Regular Back Pain? Don't Take it Casually

Sydney: If you have a sitting job or for that matter a strenuous lifestyle, you may suffer from a regular back pain which can be tackled with certain exercises or yoga. But a new study conducted by experts at the University of Sydney in Australia has brought to light some alarming facts. According to their research which has been published in the European Journal of Pain, regular back pain can increase your risk of dying early by 13 per cent!For the study, the team examined 4,390 Danish twins aged more than 70 years. They did not find any association between spinal pain and cardiovascular-specific mortality. Moreover, the influence of shared familial factors also was unlikely. In addition, the commonly prescribed medications for back pain such as paracetamol and anti-inflammatory drugs and even surgery was found ineffective in treating pain and also had side effects. Their findings conclude that when compared to people who do not suffer any kind of spinal pain (back and neck), a person with spinal pain has a 13 per cent higher chance of dying early. 
 "Back pain should be recognized as an important co-morbidity that is likely to impact people's longevity and quality of life," said lead author Matthew Fernandez from the University of Sydney in Australia. "This is a significant finding as many people think that back pain is not life-threatening," added Paulo Ferreira, Associate Professor at the University of Sydney. However, the researchers were not able to find the reason behind the link between back pain and mortality. They are speculating that spinal pain may be a part of a pattern of poor health and poor functional ability which increases mortality risk in the older population. The most common cause of back pain could be strained ligaments, muscle spasm, injury or lifting something very heavy which can lead to inflammation and pain. You may have to often resort to pain killers to tame the pain but certain yoga poses like the cobra pose, spinal twist and sitting forward bend are also effective and natural ways of treating back pain. With inputs from IANS