The cases of spinal issues have increased drastically in the recent years, there was a time when back and neck problems were a thing of old age but now even the youth is struggling with it. To learn more about the rise of back pain in youth we reached out to Dr. Puneet Girdhar, director and in charge of Spine program at BLK hospital, Delhi.
According to Dr. Girdhar, the sudden rise in the back problems in not only seen in the young adults but also in the children. Some schools still require children to carry all the subject books everyday increasing the weight of the bags, this has led to the increase in back problems seen in children. Along with that, what also affects the spine health is the frequent consumption of junk food in children. The poor quality of food has led to poor muscle mass and lack of strength to support their already burdened spine. Dr. Girdhar points out the rise of back pain in young adults has increased in the last decade tremendously, he holds excessive and unsupervised exercising responsible, not maintaining the correct posture or carrying more weights than they are trained for can lead to spine problems and ends up doing more harm than good. Gym injuries have become very common. Dr. Girdhar suggests that it is better to train under a professional trainer’s supervision and take is slow and build the pace gradually
On the other hand, adults complain of back pain has risen due to their sedentary life. With many of the corporate jobs demanding 8-10 working hours, 5-6 days a week has put a strain on their body. Prolonged sitting hours may lead to what is called the metabolic syndrome, which makes the blood sugar level, cholesterol level and blood pressure exceed the normal level. The stress of the work already causes a lot of harm but in a lot of cases the added smoking which many believe “helps” with the stress, adds more problem for the body. Even the constant use of mobile phones and laptop due to work lead bad posture which further leads to back problems like severe back pain, neck pain and even slip disc.
Dr. Girdhar advices to visit your spine or orthopaedic doctor as soon as you get any hint of spine injury or pain to prevent it from getting worse.