After the day of lovers, Valentine’s Day, and all kinds of nonsense days, Carnival, there is a day in March that is of interest to at least just as many people: Back Health Day! Although for a completely different reason. Current studies suggest that back pain is Germany’s new national ailment. It is therefore likely that Back Health Day will attract a great deal of interest. As every year, it is organised by “Aktion Gesunder Rücken” (AGR) and the “Bundesverband deutscher Rückenschulen” (BdR). This year’s focus: balance – in a double sense.
- Top concern: backs
- A matter of perspective: the “back health” model
- Less stress, more movement
Top concern: backs
The top concern is an old acquaintance: the back. The greatest amount of absence from the workplace is caused by musculoskeletal disorders, and according to the TK Health Report 2016, the largest share of these is due to lower back problems. There are many reports like this, and if you dig a little deeper into the subject, even as a layperson you can come to the conclusion that back disorders have grown enormously in importance over the past five years. Since the reading on the subject is extensive and varied, and numerous university studies and health insurance reports deal with the issue in different ways, any direct comparison would be inappropriate. However, the overall picture is quite clear: back pain remains Germany’s national ailment par excellence, closely followed by mental health problems.
It is not difficult to suspect a connection between first and second place – and not much harder to find concrete evidence for it. “Aktion Gesunder Rücken”, for example, points very clearly in this direction and has chosen the motto for this year’s campaign day: “Find balance – strengthen your back”. This guiding principle is based on the insight that in 90 percent of cases, back complaints are not caused by serious illnesses, but result from various psychological or physical problems. In quite a few cases, these problems interact.
A matter of perspective: the “back health” model
According to the AGR, back pain is the result of a physical or emotional imbalance – or the interplay of several imbalances. Put simply, you can imagine back health as a large seesaw with two small seesaws on it. The small seesaw on the left represents the body, which struggles to balance strain and recovery, while on the other side the mind does the same. Only when the two small seesaws are in balance is the large seesaw they stand on balanced too – and your back health in equilibrium.
By analogy, this means that physical imbalance – possibly triggered by sitting for too long on the office chair and too little balancing exercise after work can be just as harmful to the back as emotional imbalance. The imbalance caused by too much sitting and hardly any stress can therefore throw the system out of line just as much as too much stress with normal physical strain from prolonged sitting and enough compensating movement.
“Both excessive strain and too little movement and rest are poison for the back,” says a recent press release from AGR. “Those affected should take a moment to reflect on their daily routine. People often then realise where the pain might be coming from.” A balanced amount of movement is said to be of great importance. People with sedentary jobs are therefore advised to walk at least ten thousand steps a day: “Many do not even manage half that,” according to the back experts’ experience. Another cause of back pain can be “muscular imbalances”. “To perform a movement, one muscle shortens and its opposing muscle stretches. If a muscle is permanently shortened, for example due to lack of movement or poor posture, this leads to pain.” Sitting monotonously for hours every day at the desk causes the back muscles to waste away, and the sitting position also affects the abdominal and leg muscles.
The bottom line: when it comes to back pain, there is usually more than one factor involved. Obvious factors, such as physical deficits, carry just as much weight as less visible ones, namely psychological factors. This message seems all the more important in light of the prevailing opinion that psychological strain caused by constant stress, bullying or strokes of fate is at most a question of character. The conclusion must therefore be: when it comes to back health, the mind is at least as important as the body. The solution: actively avoid stress on the one hand and, on the other, create a counterbalance to daily inactivity through conscious activity.
Less stress, more movement
While the issue of “stress” has to be tackled individually (-> see also the article Ways to Manage Stress), physical prevention is somewhat simpler: it helps to make “movement” a fixed appointment in the daily calendar madness and to help the body find balance regularly rather than by being overly sporty. By the way, “Aktion Gesunder Rücken” also offers direct help itself. On the homepage www.agrcoach.de the association is giving interested people the chance, on Back Health Day, to access a back training programme designed by professionals free of charge and from home. Anyone who registers free of charge on the homepage in March 2017 will, in addition to comprehensive training videos and nutrition plans, also receive the “5-minute back workout” free of charge, the association promises. The videos are taken from the book of the same name by health trainer Manuel Eckardt.
Even without signing up or using the internet, you can do a lot for your body by keeping one simple rule of thumb in mind. The “10,000 steps rule”, already mentioned by the “Aktion Gesunder Rücken” association, defines a daily exercise target. It most likely originated in the office of Japanese advertising professionals who, in the 1960s, were tasked with marketing a pedometer. The figure of 10,000 was meant to suggest an appealing goal – even though it is neither the result of a clinical study nor based on empirical evidence. Still, no medical professional would deny that regular exercise has a positive effect on the body – and walking ten thousand steps a day is indeed an enticing goal. Some experts praise the positive effects of daily exercise in terms of preventing chronic illnesses and benefiting the cardiovascular system and musculoskeletal system – but even without being an expert, it is obvious that daily movement is healthy. And not just for your back.