March 15 is back health day. FitnessGoesOffice and VivaBack inform together about back pain.
Most people suffer from back pain once in their life. The pain is suddenly there, you don't really know why. Due to the constant pain, the uncertainty increases increasingly - is it the intervertebral discs? Where does the pain come from? What is the cause?
95% of all back pain is not due to a serious illness (exceptions are fractures, infections, cancer, organic causes and diseases with severe neurological symptoms such as: paralysis. It is your doctor's job to exclude these) and are therefore reported as non-specific back pain. Here it is not possible to determine the cause of pain accurately. We also initially advise against an examination with imaging techniques as long as no serious illness is suspected. This may seem strange to many of those affected at first, as they are used to looking for a structural cause of the problem (e.g. my intervertebral disc is broken). In fact, a structural diagnosis is not recommended for unspecific back pain. Instead, it is recommended to keep moving as much as possible. Relaxation and rest, on the other hand, can lead to more pain. Therefore, try to maintain your natural movement, so you have the best chance of improvement.
The natural course of back pain may take a long time. About half of those affected still have problems a year after the onset. This is important to know. Keep moving or seek help from exercise experts such as physiotherapists.
Hartvigsen J, Hancock MJ, Kongsted A, et al. What low back pain is and why we need to pay attention. Lancet (London, England). 2018;6736(18). doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30480-X
