HEALTH MATTERS: Backache costs businesses dearly, causing absenteeism, reduced productivity, loss of skilled workers, litigation, pain and disability.
A recent book by Deborah Fielding, The Healthy Back Exercise Book: Achieving and Maintaining A Healthy Back, recently published by Newleaf (€16.99), teaches simple exercises to help the back.
In a chapter on working posture, it says that the most common causes of chronic back trouble are poor posture and too much time spent sitting down. If workers spend much of their time seated or travelling by car they are at particular risk of back problems. While the desk and chair height - or car seat and steering wheel - should be right for the worker, regular breaks are also essential during the day.
The book describes exercises that can be performed easily in an office or workplace. Easily, that is, if a culture prevails in the workplace whereby workers are permitted or encouraged to do them by employers and colleagues.
Says Fielding: "Don't be embarrassed about doing them. Once you start these exercises, you will probably be surprised by how many of your colleagues will admit to having back problems themselves and will want to find out more about your approach to back care."
The chapter suggests various desk stretches in seated and standing positions, none of which look bizarre but would demand personal discipline and self- determination to do them in a crowded office.
The book helps readers determine which exercises are best suited for them and provides a graduated programme of exercises, starting with simple tasks and working up to the more challenging. Fielding warns to stop any exercise if you experience chest pain, faintness or excessive shortness of breath.
The book deals with acute and chronic back problems, offering exercises for each. It looks at how you use your back during work and home activities, and advises how to relieve muscle tension and avoid back strain. Pregnant mothers are catered for a special chapter.
Pain is a warning signal that part of the body is under strain, injured or damaged. Back problems do not always announce themselves with pain in the back itself. For instance, a problem with the lower back can manifest as a pain in the arm, while sciatica manifests itself as pain in the buttock or the back of the leg.
The book has a section on assessing your back problem and checklists for consulting your doctor for acute and chronic back pain. Immediate actions are presented for what to do if you suffer a sudden back pain. For instance, rest positions, medication and the correct use of hot and cold packs are explained.
•An authoritative conference next week will explore the prevention and management of back problems in the workplace.
The combined Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP) conference takes place next Thursday, March 21st, at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin. It aims to widen the debate on prevention strategies and how to treat or manage workplace back problems.
Dr Tim Carter will speak on the guidelines of Britain's Faculty of Occupational Medicine on the management of lower back pain at work. Dr Sue Hignett, head of the ergonomics and back care advisory department at Nottingham City Hospital NHS Trust, will speak on the role of ergonomics in managing back problems in the healthcare industry.
Chartered physiotherapist Ms Muriel Johnson will consider efforts used to date to prevent workplace low back pain and why these have been largely unsuccessful, and will look at models that may be more effective. Ms Patricia Murray, an organisational/industrial psychologist with the HSA will address manual handling training.
HSA senior inspector Mr Pat Griffin will speak on the HSA's guidelines on manual handling, while Prof Denis Cusack, professor of legal medicine at UCD, will discuss the medico-legal issues. The conference fee is €300. Members of the ISCP and HSA-affiliated delegates have a discounted delegate fee of €185. Telephone: 1850 750650 or, from Northern Ireland, 0800 0392233. E-mail: flor@madden.ie
