Eighty percent of all people will face low back pain at some point during their lives. Ever wish you could know beforehand if you were going to be one of the unlucky ones? A new on-line quiz from the Canadian Chiropractic Association (CCA) might be able to help.
But it’s not luck the CCA is focusing on, it’s lifestyle and habits. Through their short quiz covering work, lifestyle, exercise and even sleep habits, the CCA is hoping to open some eyes to a few common causes of back problems and maybe even change a habit or two.
The quiz, part of the CCA’s national public awareness campaign “What’s Holding You Back?” asks participants to answer a handful of questions regarding potential back-pain contributors like back packs and sleeping position, and then takes the participant’s score and determines the likelihood of future back pain.
The association developed the quiz and campaign in response to a recent survey in which it was determined that over 22 million Canadians experience back pain each year. Thirty percent of the respondents said their pain lasted for more than a month and kept them from performing certain activities. Most of the respondents reported doing little more than toughing out their pain or taking an aspirin.
Ergonomics, however, has the potential to make back pain more manageable. In the September, 2003 issue of The Ergonomics Report