Spinal disorders: A back-breaking concern

World Health Day will see a lot of emphasis on AIDS, cancer, tuberculosis and even lifestyle diseases like diabetes and blood pressure. But something as basic as neck and back-related disorders rarely gets the attention and focus they deserve despite there being enough empirical evidence to suggest that back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide.

‘Loss of Manhours Due to Health’ – a new study by Labour Welfare expert Dr Sneha Patnaik underlines once again how backache is the most prominent cause of loss of both man-hours and productivity. The study found 51.12 per cent of the 912 respondents (25-45 age group) admitting to loss of income due to missing work. What’s worse, 57.89 per cent of these respondents also admitted to being sole earning members of the family. So the breadwinner’s health ends up affecting her/his family too.

Apart from acute discomfort, back and neck related problems rob individuals of income in the number of days lost. But that is not all. Revenue and bottom lines of organisations where such individuals work also take a hit since cumulatively such losses make a difference to overall revenue and hence could also eat into the GDP pie. While it is important people are encouraged to seek a doctor for help over the internet, there seems to be an undue emphasis on institutionalised healthcare, though studies have shown how preventive and promotive care is more important if not as much as curative care.

An active lifestyle, regular posture breaks, maintaining optimal body weight and including regular spine checks in the annual/biannual health checks for anyone suffering from back or neck complaints. To this end, authorities need to incentivise walking by creating wide footpaths, tree-lined avenues and beautiful green open spaces encouraging people to walk at least short distances. Currently given the really poor condition of narrow footpaths and zero space for pedestrians in crowded, shrinking, open spaces people prefer a can over walking even really small distances because of the inconvenience. Addressing this will prevent spinal health problems and help those cured from suffering a relapse.

Town planners and policymakers need to re-plan cities and townships in a way that quality public transport with wide networks becomes cheaper and easier to access. Research already exists to show how a shift to public transport takes up activity levels considerably. The rules making it compulsory for schools and colleges to have large open grounds for activity need to be enforced more strictly. If children are socialised early on into long periods of being sedentary this creates conditions for a higher incidence of spinal health and back problems from early on.

A rehaul of designs of buildings and structures is also needed. In older buildings, wide (and often carpeted) staircases with ornamental balustrades were located right at the centre. When lifts were available these were located at the lobby corners. This has been reversed in new designs even in smaller 5-6 storeyed structures. On the face of it, what looks like a small change, makes the lift more accessible over the staircase. This is not to mentions the air-conditioning, fans and even music in the perfumed aesthetically designed lifts which make people choose them over the staircase. 

May sound like a pain in the back but better spinal health will need going back to basics.