How to make 2025 the year you beat that bad back in four simple steps - and why everything you thought you knew about how to ease your agonising pain might be wrong By ANISHA JOSHI Published: 02:02, 29 December 2024 | Updated: 02:07, 29 December 2024 e-mail View comments By the time patients come to my clinic with back pain, they are clearly in agony. I'm an osteopath – a specialist in the spine and movement – but you don't need to be an expert to tell. You can see it in the guarded, stiff way that they hold themselves.
Back pain, particularly in the lower back, is one of the most common health problems – and it is the leading cause of disability in under-45s. One-in-six Britons are affected and 84 per cent will suffer from back pain at some point. And it can be debilitating.
Sufferers go from being active to being afraid to do even the simplest of things almost overnight. The causes are myriad. It might be a muscle strain or sciatica – when the lower-back nerves become compressed, leading to leg pain.
Or it could be a slipped disc – when the interior material from one of the spinal discs has been pushed outwards or prolapsed. The sensation might be a dull ache or a shooting pain, which may feel worse when standing, bending, lifting or walking. Whatever the case, it can affect your mental health and the ability to work – around 8 million sick days last year were caused by back pain alone and waiting lists for NHS treatment have risen 11 per cent in a year.
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