BackCare Awareness Week 6th-12th October 2014
Backcare awareness week is a campaign to put the spotlight on prevention of back and neck pain, spreading the word on ‘good posture’ and ‘stress free’ living for a healthy back. This year the focus is on office workers. About 7.6 million working days were lost due to work-related back pain and other musculoskeletal disorders from 2010 to 2011 according to an NHS study. visit the website at: http://www.backcare.org.uk/blog/backcare-awareness-week-2014/
At the Reading Chiropractor we support backcare awareness week and strongly advocate and advise all our patients of the benefits of the advice mentioned below.
Advice includes:
- Stand, Sit and Move at your desk
- Stretch your back at your desk at least every half hour
- Set your workstation just right
- Ergonomic furniture, a hype or a necessity?
- Use headsets and stop straining those neck muscles!
- Take regular breaks especially if you work long hours
With more than three quarters (77%) of people surveyed say they are currently experiencing back or neck pain or have done in the past. Nearly a quarter (24%) say they suffer on a daily basis.
With 44% of respondents pin sitting as a pain trigger, It seems modern lifestyle could be to blame; 82% of those surveyed say they spend up to six hours a day sitting in front of a computer screen and almost one in five (19%) spend more than 4 hours a day watching TV.
Today, as part of BackCare Awareness Week (6-12 October) the Reading Chiropractor and the BCA is warning that inactive lifestyles could be causing unnecessary pain and is encouraging the nation to make small adjustments to daily routines, to help improve their back health.
Breakdown of a sedentary day:
• 73% spend more than six hours sleeping
• 28% spend over six hours sitting
• 33% spend between two and six hours looking at a laptop or tablet
• 49% spend between two and six hours watching TV or a film
• 82% spend up to six hours a day sitting in front of a computer screen
