A new study published in the “Arthritis Care & Research” journal is shedding light into the close connection between your job and back pain.
How close? According to the researchers involved in the back pain study, “working in an awkward position significantly increases the risk of developing low back pain.” This is especially true of workers involved in manual tasks, who have up to eight times more chance of developing back pain than workers in other fields. Another factor that increases the risk of developing back pain? Working while fatigued.
In addition, participants in the study reported they were more likely to experience back pain after a day of working around distractions. This could be because being distracted makes it more difficult to maintain proper posture and makes you more likely to sit or stand on awkward positions that can strain your muscles. Surprisingly, the risk of injury is higher between 7 am and noon, which might be connected to the fact muscles are not properly warmed up early in the day, so extra pressure or bad posture might end up causing more damage.
The study also found that people as young as 20 are susceptible to these injuries. This goes against previously held beliefs that older populations were are a higher risk of back injury and pain.
