As an exercise physiologist, one of the most frequent sites of pain I encounter in my work with clients is low back pain. According to The Medical Journal of Australia, up to 80% of Australians will experience back pain at some point in their lives. Worse still, it is thought that 10% of Australians will suffer from significant disability resulting from back pain. This has prompted researchers to call for back pain to be identified as a National Health Priority Area, alongside cancer control, injury prevention, cardiovascular health, mental health, diabetes, and asthma.
So what is back pain? What can you do to avoid developing back pain? And if you currently experience it, what can you do to alleviate your symptoms and address the cause of your pain? In this great video, Dr Mike Evans talks through the warning signs or “red flags”, and the major types of back pain that afflict so many people: