Back pain – one of the most health common complaints, especially for us office workers. Whether you’re in your 20s or your 60s, back pain is a problem for everyone.
There can be a myriad of reasons for it. Having to support your boobs, chronic pain, a lot of manual labour, doing a desk job for long hours – the list goes on.
We’ve always thought that bad posture probably has a lot to do with back pain – but what if we told you that everything you know about back pain is a lie?
Well, according to osteopath Anisha Joshi, our posture has nothing to do with back pain.
“So actually, [bad posture] is actually not relevant when it comes to neck pain or back pain. It’s a big myth,” she said when she appeared on This Morning.
“So sitting badly, there’s no evidence, well, sitting badly is considered rounded shoulders, and sitting well is obviously considered shoulders back. There’s no evidence to show that that leads to neck or back pain,” she said.
Apparently, the cause for all your back and neck pain is actually lack of movement and inactivity, she explained on the show.
Physiotherapists also agree, as Laura Finucane, a consulting physiotherapist specialising in spinal conditions, says that remaining active can help reduce the intensity of your back pain.
She also adds that if you decide to do nothing and stay still instead, it will increase the intensity of pain because it will reinforce the idea that movement is bad for you.
The NHS also echoes the same advice: “One of the most important things you can do is to keep moving and continue with your normal activities as much as possible.”
So there you have it. Slouch and bend yourself like a pretzel all you want because it has nothing to do with your back pain. Make sure you stay active though, because otherwise it’ll just get worse.