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Back pain a reality for most Canadians, April survey indicates
These are words tens of thousands of Canadians have muttered after reaching for the phone or lifting a heavy box, only to experience a jolt of pain shooting through their backs. A poll released Wednesday indicates that almost two-thirds of Canadians experienced back pain in the past year, while more than seven in 10 withstood back pain of some degree over the last two years. "This is information that is even surprising to practitioners in the back-pain industry," said Dr. Greg Stewart, president of the Canadian Chiropractic Association.
Sometimes the pain can be subtle and hardly noticed until perhaps the next day. However, results of an Environics Research Group poll conducted in April suggest four in 10 respondents reported pain lasting from several days to a week and almost a third said their injuries lingered for a month or longer.
Sixteen per cent said their pain has never gone away and 21 per cent characterized their ailment as severe.
More than half of those who reported back pain blamed their injury on poor posture, sports injuries, improper lifting or carrying of heavy articles, emotional stress, automobile accident, falls and yardwork-gardening.
"It's accumulated damage; so if you had back pain every time you lifted or when you bent over, well it wouldn't take long for behaviour to change," said Stewart.
"Unfortunately these things are obviously gradual onset and so you literally get away with it too much until the damage is severe enough that the symptoms become very severe," he said.
About 37 per cent of back pain victims said health conditions such as surgery, pregnancy or work-related injuries were at the root of their pain.
While most people tended to carry on daily routines despite the ailment, 15 per cent said they took time off work and half of those said they missed at least a week of work. One in five said they stayed away from the office for between a week and a month.
Health Canada estimates that musculoskeletal disorders, including back pain, cost society $16.4 billion a year in treatment and rehabilitation costs and lost productivity.
The department says consumers spent $21.5 million on back pain products in Canada in 1999.
The survey found 37 per cent turned to over-the-counter medication while 17 per cent reported using prescription drugs.
Fourteen per cent said they did nothing about their condition.
Almost 55 per cent cited cost as a barrier to seeking treatment, usually because they wouldn't be covered by a provincial health plan or an employee benefits plan.
Of those who sought help, 90 per cent said they were satisfied with treatment provided by a chiropractor while 83 per cent of those who visited a massage therapist said their visit had helped markedly. Some 73 per cent of patients who visited a physiotherapist said they felt improvement soon after.
The poll also found that 88 per cent of Canadians rate back pain as a "very" or "somewhat" important health condition, ranking as important as cancer, heart disease and AIDS, to about a third of those.
Tips to reduce instances of back pain include stretching before and after playing sports, stretching legs and back after each hour of sitting and positioning your computer to avoid leaning and twisting when working.
"Prevention goes a long, long way," said Stewart. "Picking good chairs, picking good mattresses, keeping the abdominal strength up to snuff and actually looking at how our lifestyle is," he said.
The Survey of Back Pain In Canada was conducted for the Canadian Chiropractic Association by Environics Research Group. Environics spoke with 1,500 adults aged 18 or over. The survey is considered accurate to within 2.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
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