The Painful Truth About Back Injuries

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By becoming educated on the risk factors that cause back injuries, a majority of the general population can prevent agonizing and potentially disabling pain during their lifetimes. Back injuries can occur gradually over time as a result of trauma caused by repetitive activity or can result from a single traumatic event (Back). The signs and symptoms of a back injury may include pain when trying to assume a normal posture, decreased mobility, and pain when standing from a seated position (Back). Warning signs that should cause concern may include radiating pain down a leg, numbness or loss of sensation in a leg, weakness or loss of muscular strength in a leg, constant pain in the back or leg that is not affected by motion, pain in the upper beck or chest, or increased pain at night when lying down (Low 5). Ebony author Alex Poinsett describes how terrible back pain can be. He wrote:

To hear backache sufferers tell it, nothing is more excruciating than the pain which shoots from the lower back, through the sciatic nerve (largest in the body) and down one or both legs. They can neither sit, stand nor lie down comfortably, and movement of any kind is sometimes an ordeal. (154)

Statistics show that the majority of people suffer from back injuries during their lifetimes. According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, back pain will occur in 80 percent of people during their lifetimes (Woodward 58). Fifteen percent of the adult population in the United States has had persistent low-back pain during a point in their lives (Poinsett 154). HR Magazine author Nancy Hatch Woodward points out “lower back pain is the No. 2 reason Americans visit their doctors” (57). One in every five people in the general population is aff...

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...h back pain, however, this treatment must be prescribed by a medical doctor (Low 5).

By becoming educated on the risk factors that cause back injuries, a majority of the general population can prevent agonizing and potentially disabling pain during their lifetimes.

Works Cited

"Back Disorders and Injuries." Occupational Safety & Health Administration. OSHA Technical Manual. Web. 11 Sep. 2011.

Cole, M. H. and Grimshaw, Paul Norman. "Low Back Pain and Lifting: A Review of Epidemiology and Aetiology." IOS Press 21 (2003): 173-184.

"Low Back Pain: Treatment and Prevention." Harvard Men’s Health Watch 11 (2006): 4-6.

Mangiamele, Deborah. "Keep Your Back Healthy at Work." OfficePro 71 (2011): 36-37.

Poinsett, Alex. "How to Deal With 10 Serious Health Problems." Ebony 41 (1986): 144-149.

Woodward, Nancy Hatch. "Easing Back Pain." HRMagazine 53 (2008): 56-60.

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