Spinal Health Week 19-25 May

The month of May promotes the launch of the theme for Spinal Health Week (May 19-25) “Live Better, We’ve Got Your Back”, a national initiative of the CAA. Spinal health week encourages the general population to take control of their healthcare and improve their postural fitness.

As the population lives longer, it is more important than ever to take care of our bodies. Over a quarter of Australians are being forced into early retirement because of back or arthritic pain. Forced early retirement can be devastating not only on your finances but the quality of your retirement years from experiencing physical pain. Not only does chronic back pain affect one in 3 Australians, but it is one of the top 3 causes of disability in Australia. Back pain is also linked to days off work, poor balance and can lead to emotional illnesses such as depression.

Postural fitness can prevent problems that may occur in your muscles, joints and ligaments, and it can also prevent potential injury. By building up core muscle strength and improving our postural fitness, we can protect and stabilise our spine. We can restore and maintain healthy spinal joints and mobility with chiropractic check-ups.

Techniques to improve our spinal health can be as simple as avoiding sitting down for too long and sitting correctly. By using proper techniques when bending or lifting, you can avoid damage to your spine.

Around the workplace, people should consider new ways to combat the problems from sitting down for too long. Small changes that you can make immediately to improve your postural fitness and limit time spent sitting include:

  • Parking or getting off transport further away from work
  • Taking the stairs where possible
  • Stand up while on the phone for long periods
  • Remember to take regular breaks from sitting and stretch or walk around
  • Checking and adjusting your sitting posture regularly

Chiropractors often get asked how to sit right at a computer desk. So the CAA developed a widget you can download (www.sitright.com.au) to guide you.