Job Satisfaction and Low Back Pain

Backaches and sciatica image.

Low back pain, more commonly associated with jobs involving physical labor, is now striking an increasing number of white-collar workers. Usually associated with heavy lifting, turning, bending and repetitive motions, back pain is becoming a plague among those who lift nothing heavier than a stapler.

While workplace design and employee fitness are factors in office workers developing neck and back injuries, an overlooked element is the psychosocial factor -- how positive a person's mental outlook is, and especially how much they like their career.

Instead of taking drugs to reduce the symptoms, more and more recommendations involve reducing the amount of stress and taking steps to increase job satisfaction.

Experts say that up to 80 percent of adults will seek treatment for work-related neck or back pain at some point in their career.

Doc Asks some important questions of interest to Walled Lake residents - Chiropractor Walled Lake Doc Asks...

Will chiropractic adjustments make my spine too loose?
No. Only the spinal joints that are fixated and "locked up" receive attention. The occasional spinal joint that moves too much is passed over so weakened muscles and ligaments can strengthen and heal.
Why is a "slipped disc" unlikely?
Separating each spinal vertebra is a disc. Its fibrous outer ring holds in a jelly-like material. Because of the way a disc attaches to the spinal bones above and below it, it can't actually "slip." However, a disc can bulge, tear, herniate, thin and collapse. But it can't slip.