Lower back pain is an excruciating pain that occurs at the lower end of your back. Your lower back supports your entire body frame.
It allows you to walk, sit, bend and twist. The muscles and ligaments here are responsible for moving and flexing your hips when you are walking.
These muscles need to be kept healthy and strong to prevent inflammation of the joints connecting the discs that make up the spine. You can always use a posture corrector device to ensure that your body remains in the right posture and avoid sitting for long periods to avoid putting a lot of pressure on this part of the body. This mostly happens to corporate individuals who have to sit all day, the drive home and continue sitting on their couches.
Other causes of back pain include lifting heavy objects incorrectly, twisting your spine when carrying out physical activities, falls, as well as sports injuries especially if your body is not well suited due to lack of exercise.
About 16 million individuals in the United States of America (USA) are suffering from lower back pain. Lower back pain can really hinder your daily activities. Here I how this condition affects your business productivity.
Business Losses
A 2013 study showed that about one in four employees in the United States of America (USA) suffers from lower back pain. This situation cost businesses an average of $51,400 in annual losses for every 100 employees due to low productivity as well as medical expenses. Businesses also lost a further $34,600 for every 100 employees per year due to absenteeism and underperforming while at work. According to this study, individuals that suffer from low back pain are likely to be out of work for about four more days as compared to others. This loss of time is a serious loss to many businesses.
Personal Losses
Sole proprietors have it worse when suffering from lower back pain. If you normally run your business alone, you will not be able to work at all if you are experiencing these pains. The pain hinders your movement and slows you down significantly. Severe back pain will have you bedridden meaning that your business cannot run entirely. Such a situation costs you in lost business time, and medical expenses.
Psychological Effects
Back pain is also associated with physiological effects such as depression and stress. More often than not, when one is immobilized due to the pain of any kind, they get psychologically affected. One may fall to depression or suffer bouts of stress and panic attacks. You will not be in a position to run your daily activities normally especially when dealing with clients and other people in your line of business. Studies show that 29% of people suffering from lower back pain will also suffer from depression, 41% will experience fatigue and 8% also suffer from obesity. Managing these other conditions present extra costs.
Treating and Managing Lower Back Pain
We have already seen how lower back pain hampers with your business productivity. It is important that we have knowledge of the various remedies we can take to cure the pain, and better still, to prevent it from happening to us.
Avoid Sitting for Extended Periods
Corporates need to learn that sitting exerts more pressure on their spine than standing. Sitting is, thus, one of the major causes of lower back pain. As a measure, you can take breaks after every 35 to 45 minutes of working at your desk and stretch a bit to relieve your lower back off the pressure. You can also opt to use a standing desk once in a while to keep your posture strong.
Exercise
Do not overlook the value of exercise on your body. Take at least 40 minutes every day to warm up your muscles and stretch before starting off your day. Keeping your muscles strong and relaxed is a preventative measure. Exercise also rejuvenates your mind helping you to avoid stress and depression. It is also a good way of burning calories and preventing obesity.
As you take these measures into consideration, always remember that prevention is better than cure. Do not wait until you start to suffer from lower back pains to start looking for remedies. It is never too late to start living a holistic and healthy lifestyle.
