As an osteopath in Leyton i'm commonly asked by local people who are suffering with back pain whether they should rest or keep active when their back pain is present.
My response is usually - 'Do both.'
Complete rest is almost never a good idea but getting some quality rest will help recovery. Keeping active is generally a good idea but it is important to clarify what exactly is meant by 'keeping active'.
During a recent osteopathy consultation in Leyton a construction worker described his intense back pain. He visited his GP days before and was told to take painkillers and keep active.
This gentleman's interpretation of that advice was to keep going exactly as before. He was steadily taking more and more painkillers to be able to continue working. From our discussion it became increasingly clear that his work was a major factor in his back pain. Without changing some of his practices, he was destined to have back pain for a long time.
Should you keep active with back pain? Absolutely! Keep moving. Resist the temptation to find a comfortable position and just stay there. Should you keep working? Yes! If you can. But if work has caused your problem you need to examine how you are performing your role and make some changes.
For the construction worker we implemented the following measures:
- Improved lifting technique
- Altered body positioning when shovelling
- Reduced labour intensive work by using machinery more effectively
- More regular breaks
- Arranged with his employer to do more driving and less manual work
You should keep active when experiencing back pain but that shouldn’t mean blindly ignoring it and failing to make any allowances for it.