Office work is causing a back pain epidemic

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Today with David McCullagh 12 min 2 speakers 8 chapters transcribed just now

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Why are modern desk jobs considered an invisible occupational hazard for back health?

David McCullagh 0:00

It's the invisible occupational hazard of the modern age. Most of us aren't operating heavy machinery every day or scaling high buildings, but workers are clocking off with injuries as if they've been doing hard labour. We're living in an age of unprecedented comfort. So why are our jobs literally breaking our backs? And is the modern desk job building up a future health crisis? To talk about all of this I'm joined by spinal surgeon Derek Cauley Morning. Derek, thank you very much for coming into us. I think. And if you have any back pain questions for Derek, uh still time to get them in. WhatsApp O eight seven O thirty two thirty two thirty two, text five one five five one or email today DMC at RTE dot IE.

David McCullagh 0:38

Derek, could we start with what you are seeing in your clinic? Because I think you're seeing younger people presenting with back pain more. Right. Uh the

Derek Cawley 0:47

Uh World Metrics report uh was updated over the summer there um and the stats on low back pain are showing us that it's the uh uh thirty percent of uh it is thirty percent of global disability um where days are missed from work. Um so it's a massive uh effect on our economy and our way of living. Um it's very very common. And particularly as you allude to the younger population, we're seeing more and more of this because they have an increasingly sedentary job. If you look at the 65 or 75 year olds who I see with back problems today, they were f far more active when they were 35 than today's 35 year olds because a lot of our jobs are driving, a lot of jobs are are at desks. A lot of jobs are at computers, and this has a knock-on effect in in terms of the development of the uh muscle imbalance that ultimately leads to disc degeneration and low back pain.

Derek Cawley 1:48

Okay.

What does the World Health Organization report say about low‑back pain and global disability?

Derek Cawley 1:48

Sitting is the new smoking. Is that an exaggeration? That's that's fair, yeah. Sitting and sedentary activities and lifestyles is definitely probably the biggest uh contributing factor. I suppose sitting, you could say, is more is it an expression of the job? Is an expression of the fact that a person isn't uh exercising and it's one of the risk factors, probably the greatest risk factor amongst others as well. Uh smoking um and uh you could argue a whole host of things um such as as diet and then uh with that come added problems. So for example, up to a half of people who have chronic low back pain also have depression. Um uh uh uh you've a fifty percent higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease because of low back pain. 'Cause you're not exercising at all.

Derek Cawley 2:33

Exercising it all. Exactly. And these people then disengage in terms of social uh uh social activities and so all of these knock on effects uh ca come from this chronic and disabling condition.

David McCullagh 2:45

Okay, tell me a little bit about the bad habits that people get into that could uh lead to problems in the future, even if they're not charging. Yeah, I found I

Derek Cawley 2:52

found a nice quote on it actually the other day um which I will read out to you. Um it is that your low back pain is like sorry now I have to find it um your low back pain is like a meticulous accountant that files every cigarette, skipped walk and slumped hour as a formal complaint and its favourite auditing tool is a sudden sharp pain. Oh.

David McCullagh 3:18

You're on notice, David. Absolutely, yeah. So I mean I'm sitting in a chair now for two hours, uh which is probably a bad thing, you should get up and walk around, I presume.

Derek Cawley 3:26

Yeah, I mean uh we shouldn't blame the chair. Um and people frequently ask me is a standing desk okay? It's probably a little bit better than a chair, but it doesn't replace the science on lack of exercise, etcetera, etcetera.

How does prolonged sitting create muscle imbalances that lead to disc degeneration?

David McCullagh 3:37

Okay. A lot of people are at at least part of the week working from home. So they might be logging on from their kitchen table, from their sofa, even from their bed with their laptop.

Derek Cawley 3:48

Is that leading to more problems? As long as they uh pencil in a mid morning and mid afternoon stretch, you know, um probably doing a yoga pose in the middle of the office might raise eyebrows, but it's something worth considering. We should have breakout rooms in our places of employment to allow a person to stretch out and reverse some of those uh imbalances that we develop while sitting at a desk.