Back pain is incredibly common. In Australia alone around 3 million people have back problems and back pain of one description or another.
Given the total population of Australia (around 25 million) that’s over 10% of everyone in the country!
This is mirrored in many other countries – in the US for example 13% of adults surveyed in 2017 said they had back pain every day.
Pain affecting the back and neck may be caused by a range of different issues and it can be difficult to track down the exact cause, due to the complex way the muscles, nerves and bone in the back interact with each other.
The sorts of things that are the ‘normal’ culprits of back pain include…
- compression of a nerve
- injury to a disc in the spine (or injury to another bone or bones)
- muscle strain or injury
- ligament injury
- joint injury
The exact nature and type of pain will be a guide as to what the cause or causes are, which are generally classified as either musculoskeletal (ie ‘mechanical’ pain caused by ligament or muscle strain or possibly osteoarthritis) or nerve related (for example a herniated disc causing pain by pressing on one or more nerves).
Less commonly, back pain may be a symptom of something else, such as osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, scoliosis or an infection or (very rarely) cancer. This is why it is always worth getting any back pain that lasts for more than a few weeks checked out by your doctor for a proper diagnosis.
Modern lifestyles and working practices are also partly to blame for the increase in back pain, with recent research* indicating that most office workers sit for 11 hours a day and 70% of the entire population do not move enough to remain healthy. Obesity is also a major factor, since it places greater stress on the spine.
Common risk factors for back pain include…
- bad posture/sleeping position
- repetitive manual work (eg heavy lifting)
- sedentary lifestyle
- insufficient physical exercise
Magnet therapy has been shown to be effective in many instances of back pain. Read some of our other resources on using magnets to reduce back pain below. There are of course limitations on the use of Q Magnets – in cases of a herniated disc for example, it is important to see a medical specialist as soon as possible, as surgery may be required (see this article on the limitations of using Q Magnets)
90 year old suffering back pain find miraculous relief with Quadrapolar magnets
27 years of low back pain ‘turned off’ in minutes with Q Magnet therapy
Australian cricketer Shane Watson using Q Magnets to get back bowling and batting sooner
Low back pain relief and hubby’s shoulder bonus
How to use Q Magnet therapy to treat low back pain
Lower back pain treatment protocol
*https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1108810
