The Hindu Business Line : Forget that chair for a while

Most backaches are caused by too much screen-staring, a sedentary lifestyle and little or no exercise, coupled with stress and an overactive imagination.

Help! I need to see a doctor, I need to see a specialist, I've got a terrible backache!" Now, hold on just a moment. Before you lighten your wallet and waste your time, how about taking some time off that all-too-comfy office chair and stretching those limbs a bit?

For, says Dr Jeyamoorthy, consultant orthopaedician at Apollo Hospital, Chennai, "Most back aches are caused by too much screen-staring, a sedentary lifestyle and little or no exercise." Couple that with stress and an overactive imagination and you've got yourself a terrible backache.

Sounds like the same old story? Yes, but there are newer twists to the tale. This orthopaedician treats a lot of young people who suffer from backaches, especially software professionals. And though he says there is no pathology for the problem "in the sense that one cannot pin it down to a specific set of causes, most often, back problems arise from repetitive stress and increased stress levels both at home and at the workplace." Other causes can be lumbar sacral strain or strain in the lower back region. Then, of course, there is the all-too popular, disc prolapse - slip disc to most of us. These are the back problems that Dr Jeyamoorthy sees in young people, while older people experience problems such as disc spondilosis, which is degeneration of the discs that comes with age.

The fact that back problems are become a recurring ailment of the 25+ age group in the last 10 years is not half as alarming as the doctor's observation that the numbers are only increasing. He himself gets an average of 30 patients a day, 40 per cent of whom come to him for back-related problems. All complaints — whether it's that party-pooping slip-disc or a nagging lower backache that can be a real killjoy and cramp your career — are centred on the ever-infernal aching back. They all spin the 21st century's tale of woe — too much seat-warming and working in overdrive and a steady shrinking of the unwind zone. And we stoically push through the pain when, according to Dr Jeyamoorthy the pain is an indication to stop the activity that causes it in the first place.

At Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM), Chennai, the scene is no different. S. Sridharan, Managing Trustee, talks of how "bad postures coupled with stress and long hours at the desk, puts weight on certain parts of the spine and under the pressures of this stress, the muscles contract, leading to pain."

And in a lot of cases, we find ourselves spiralling down into depression. Krishna, a Chennai housewife, found herself caught in the same vicious cycle of pain-despair-pain the day she was diagnosed with slip disc. This dealt a crippling blow to the 27-year-old fiercely independent woman, who hated depending on others for every little thing she needed to do.

To add insult to injury the problem even cut into her maternal duties. A young mother at that time, it barred her from performing even the most simple tasks for her newborn son. "I found it really depressing that I had to depend on others to look after my child. Each time I wanted to carry him, someone else had to reach down and hand him over to me," she says. It was a long road to recovery for her, but the exercise and reduced stress has kept her problem at a manageable level.

Sridharan cites what he calls the "psychosomatic" factor as one of the reasons why backaches take up more than their fair share of our time and attention. Anitha, a Chennai-based executive, agrees. When she started experiencing bouts of recurring pain in her lower back, her imagination ran wild and she had dire projections of surgery, spinal injury and she was reduced to a chronic worrywart. "I suffered from extreme lack of concentration and I also went into depression," she says. All her fears, however, came to nought when she found out that the real problem was that she was pursuing her career with a little too much energy. "There is a lot of misconception and fear which complicates matters. Most of the time back problems are due to muscular weakness and fatigue and they are not as intimidating as we think they are," she says.

A little less energy is what we should practise in gyms as well, for in our quest for cover-girl looks and macho muscularity, we often overload our back, says A. Srichandran, Chief Physiotherapist, Apollo Hospital, Chennai. "In a lot of gyms, people wrongly believe that exercise should be vigorous. This puts unnecessary strain on the back muscles," he adds.

Among his patients are those who are victims of mechanical backaches caused by performing any activity too long, whether it is riding long distances or sitting for too long in one position. Most back problems, as seen till now, are self-inflicted with sedentary lifestyle and no exercise. The solution: More time in the unwind zone and less monitor moments.

Dr Jeyamoorthy recommends guidelines at the workplace to help keep employees in better shape. "One thing I have found in India is that there are no guidelines or tips at the workplace on healthy ways to perform our tasks to reduce physical strain and stress. For instance, in the hospital in Australia where I worked, there would be posters with tips on how to intersperse your work hours with exercise and taking breaks in between your work to improve blood circulation and lessen stress on the body. But that's not done here and I think that it is very important that every organisation incorporates fitness at the workplace. For example, where a particular task involves heavy, strenuous manual labour, appropriate tips should be provided," he says.

In an age where remedies don't just mean relief from pain but also include the overall well-being of an individual, therapies run the gamut from simple exercise to aerobics and there's a recent rush towards yoga.

Sherna Irani has added to this growing list of yoga fans. How has she benefited from the exercise? "Tremendously," she says. Disillusioned with conventional treatment and collapsing under the psychological strain that her degenerative disc was causing her, she was about to throw up her hands in despair, when friends directed her to KYM. "I've been living with the problem for the past two-and-a-half years, but since I started practising yoga, there's been a tremendous difference. Can you imagine I had to be pushed around in a wheel chair? But now, with the breathing exercises and the meditation, I am a lot better," says the 57-year-old Chennai resident, sprucing up for her yoga regimen.

"We take the individual as a whole and evolve individual-specific programmes for each patient. There are not only routine exercises at the muscular skeletal level, but also exercises that help improve the cardiovascular system, such as pranayama," says Sridharan. At the same time, he says, they don't dissuade patients from continuing the treatment they were undergoing prior to yoga. "Yoga is not an alternative, it's a good complementary treatment," he says.

Don't overstay your time in bed, is Dr Jeyamoorthy's advice to all those who think that the longer they "rest" their backs, the stronger it becomes. "The longer the period of rest, the weaker your muscles become and this reduces your capacity to get back to work and it only leads to chronic back pain. However, short rest periods mean that you can return to your normal routine faster." And he reminds you yet again, pay attention to pain.

Picture by A. Roy Chowdhury

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