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Low Back Pain Facts and Safety Tips

Back Facts Low back pain affects 60 to 80 percent of U.S. adults at some time during their lives. Back symptoms are among the 10 leading reasons that people visit an emergency room. Back pain will become chronic in 5 to 10 percent of those who suffer. Back symptoms are the mo t common cause of disability for persons under age 45. People who smoke, are obese, depressed, anxious or have high stress jobs, have a higher incidence of low back pain. The back is more vulnerable to injury during the first hour after waking and any time after prolonged periods of sitting or sleeping. Most back injuries are not the result ot a single activity or exposure to heavy lifting, but instead are related to repetitive motion. Eight Steps to Lifting Safely. Repeated motion and/or lifting is the number one way in which people injure their back. These basic rules can help keep you free from injury. 1. If an object is too heavy or awkward, get help. 2. Spread your feet apart to give a wide base of support. 3. Bend at the knees and do not arch the back. 4. Hold objects close to the body to reduce the load on the back. 5. Lift using leg muscles, not back muscles. 6. Stand up without bending fbrward from the waist. 7. Never twist at the waist'While lifting something heavy. Turn your whole body to change direction or set something down. 8. If an object can be moved without liftirfg, pull it, don't push.

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