Gelisim News

Speaking of back and neck pain in working life Lecturer at Istanbul Gelisim University Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Çağıl Ertürk “One of the most common symptoms in people with long-term standing is back and neck pain. It causes serious time and job loss. In the studies conducted, 70-90 percent of the individuals encountered these complaints at least at some time in their lives. Nowadays, many occupational and personal risk factors of waist and neck pain are determined and more than 60% of low back pain is reported by the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety, which has developed due to excessive force.”

“LOW BACK AND NECK PAIN IGNORED”

The physiotherapist Erturk listed the reasons for back and neck pain and continued her speech as follows:

“Chronic traumas are the most common causes of low back pain, such as physical workload exposure, overloading physical force, sudden, repetitive and challenging movements. Muscle spasms and/or joint blockages, muscle anomalies, hernias and calcifications are the causes of neck pain. In fact, pain waist and neck the body's defense mechanism is often ignored by people. However, sometimes it is a serious health problem that restricts the activities of daily living and can lead to results that will negatively affect the work life.”

ADVANCING AGE MAY INCREASE LOW BACK PAIN

Physiotherapist Ertürk touched on a study on waist, neck pain and psychological status in supermarket workers in 2017, and said:  “In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the relationship between waist and neck pain, psychological status, duration of work and the unit that employees work with for 50 supermarket employees with long-term repetitive activities. Based on the results of the research, statistically, significant differences were observed between age, body mass index and back pain values of supermarket employees. We can interpret this result as with progressing age, back pain increases due to changes in the amount of load on the spine”.
Physiotherapist Ertürk explaining that a similar research study was conducted in the faculty of dentistry, added: “In this study, a positive relationship was found between weekly and daily working hours and low back pain. As a result, it was found that working time and position had a significant effect on back and neck pain.”
 
EXERCISE PROGRAM CAN BE CREATED
 
Physiotherapist Ertürk touching on the importance of studies in the field of ergonomics said: “To raise awareness of working in the right positions and to reduce the mechanical load on the spine can prevent chronicity of back and neck pain. Providing regular group exercises and therapy programs by employers will prevent material and spiritual labor losses. Physiotherapists and occupational therapists should be consulted first. Thus, by evaluating the employees at work, treatment and exercise program can be planned according to their working environment. Improving the quality of life is the only goal here”.