“Putting our backs into it…”
With an estimated 540 million people in the world suffering with low back pain at any one time, It remains one of the leading causes of years lived with disability, and the biggest single cause of disability on the planet today.
It will therefore come as no surprise that it is also the largest cause of work absences, accounting for more than 12 million days lost every year in the UK, alone. Back pain presents a major challenge to health systems and employers alike, and costs the NHS and the UK economy billions of pounds every year. It leaves those suffering with back injury in pain.
Back pain is a pain. But so many back injuries are avoidable and National BackCare Awareness Week – beginning 4 October – aims to set the record straight about protecting our spines, to enable more people to lead active, pain free lives.
BackCare believes this will be the largest Awareness Week to date, with many organisations already signed up to take part, including health authorities, business organisations and companies. Perhaps that is little surprise because since the pandemic started it is reported that the number of people suffering from back pain has risen. Whilst back pain is not quite a COVID-19 symptom, its prevalence could well be a consequence of changes to our daily habits during lockdown.
We know that even without the added complications of adapting to life within a global pandemic some 80% of the UK population suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. It is in everyone’s interest to try to do something to prevent unnecessary injury to the very structure that supports us when we are at work, at rest and at play. BackCare’s National BackCare Awareness Week (BCAW21) from the 4th to the 8th of October aims to do just that. BackCare will be putting their backs into it and they hope many others will join in, too.
Denice Logan Rose, Executive Director of BackCare said: “With more people having to adapt to new working arrangements and the limitations that lockdowns have imposed, BCAW21 will focus on how we can protect our spines when we are spending more time around the house, working, studying or simply being busy doing not much at all. There will also be information for people working from offices, factories, colleges, universities and hospitals and care settings too.
“We are calling on all companies, organisations and health authorities to work with us to help make BCAW21 the biggest and most successful one to date. Together, we can put our backs into this, to prevent unnecessary back injury whenever and wherever possible.”
For information about how to get involved in BCAW21, visit the BackCare Awareness Week page on the BackCare website. Access to all materials is free.