Posted Feb 13, 2012
An estimated 70-80 percent people will suffer from significant backache at some point in their lives–and more and more youth are now beginning to suffer from it.
That’s what Mihir Bapat, consultant spine surgeon at Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and Medical Research Institute, says. It’s an opinion that’s shared by several doctors and orthopaedic surgeons, on the basis of anecdotal data.
Having a spine, a character virtue, unfortunately can also lead to health issues. A combination of careless diet, poor posture and lack of exercise has made backaches an increasingly common, and disturbingly unconnected-to-age, trend.
Though there are no known studies in India specific to back problems, doctors use data from other countries when estimating the high number of people likely to be affected by them. For instance, a New York Times article, Sit Up Straight. Your Back Thanks You, in June said up to 80 percent of Americans experience Back Pain at some point in their lives.
It’s the long hours at work, mostly spent in front of a computer, and the natural tendency of the human body to bend forward, that leads to a poor posture. The hunched slouch of James Dean in the poster of the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause might look cool but it does the back no favours. Muscle imbalance is the basic source of pain in the back, shoulder and neck, says Abhishek Srivastava, consultant, centre for physical medicine and rehabilitation, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and Medical Research Institute. “It leads to more Stress on the spine, the disc comes out, leading to nerve compression,” adds Dr Srivastava.
Dr Bapat says the second reason young people, some still in their teens, are falling prey to spinal problems is poor diet, and the fact that they don’t spend enough time outdoors. There are two outcomes of this: overweight and Calcium/Vitamin D deficiencies.
Abhay Nene, a consultant spine surgeon at Mumbai’s Hinduja Hospital, says up to 80 percent of the people who come to the hospital with aches and pains are deficient in Vitamin D. A survey by doctors at the hospital in early 2011 found that 77.5 percent of 561 males and 72.68 percent of 443 females who had come to the hospital for routine health check-ups were deficient in Vitamin D, a surprising statistic for a city that’s predominantly sunny. For the sun is the best source of vitamin D.
“Vitamin D and Calcium deficiency is an urban epidemic,” says Dr Nene. “It leads to poor Muscle tone. That’s because we are not exposed to sunlight enough. Even an hour outside a day is not enough because we are anyway mostly covered up.” Dairy products, Dr Nene adds, are good sources of calcium, though major deficiencies can be addressed with supplements.
An improper diet, doctors say, also increases weight, which puts a constant load on the spine. “Controlling your weight is most important,” says Dr Bapat. “Particularly after the age of 25, you need to maintain your muscle strength as well.”
Some back problems are inevitable, like disc degenerative diseases (as the spinal vertebrae naturally degenerate over time). For the rest, there’s hope.
©2012 the Mint (New Delhi)
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