Back Pain - The Lost Days

Nearly all of us will be affected with back pain of some kind within our lifetime but what impact does this have on our lives and the world around us?

Back Pain And The Impact On Our Lives

Back pain can play a major part in people's lives; the pain they feel can seriously affect what they do on a day-to-day basis.

Many people with back pain find it difficult to work, drive or even carry out simple daily chores because the problem with back pain is that it can be very intense and in some circumstances the pain can increase just by breathing, with basic movements becoming unbearable.

Back pain also affects close friends and family as it also stops sufferers from being able to enjoy daily and weekly nights out or nights in with a loved one, some sufferers find it so painful that they are bedridden and feel like they cannot move at all.

A lot of back pain sufferers can end up with emotional problems too, like stress and depression as they feel the affects on their bodies, growing debt and the prospect of becoming dependant on others for basic necessities we take for granted.

Up to thirty percent of people in the United Kingdom say that their working environment is the reason for their back pain due to bad posture or manual lifting that is carried out in the work place. If you think this figure is high, you may be surprised to learn that this is the average figure with the European Union. Some countries have figures that are higher than this, like Greece who has a figure of forty percent and Germany who's figure sits at thirty seven percent.

Back Pain And The World Around Us

Back pain is the second most used reason for time off work behind the common cold, with an estimate of nearly 5 million days lost a year in the United Kingdom alone. This figure equates to an average of eleven days per off per person a year.

Did you know that the cost of back pain to employers on a yearly basis has been roughly estimated at three hundred million pounds ($565 million) in the United Kingdom?

Governments across Europe and around the world have created health and safety departments to assess the risks of back pain in every type of profession, and have created assessments and rules for companies to follow to alleviate the risks involved. By managing the risks government agencies hope to save a lot of people the possibility of back pain and save companies a lot of financial burden from lost days.

Back pain not only affects us physically it impacts on the world around us emotionally and financially.

A lot of work needs to be put into managing the risks of back pain so the possibilities of becoming one of the statistics who suffer with back pain are less likely and workers can be safe in the knowledge that every possibly thought is going into their working environment.