These are the words of my best friend’s husband:

It is a common yet unfortunate human characteristic to take much for granted- none more so than good health. I worked, exercised and played hard. In my opinion bad backs and sore necks were a concern for the elderly. I was 28 and had worked for 7 years in a bank when I slipped two discs in my neck. Long working hours, a workstation with multiple computer screens and bad posture were some of the reasons cited. Looking back now on the 6 months of severe and relentless nerve pain, the emotional decision of whether to go for surgery and the real desperation to recover, my emotions are mixed. I am very grateful to have avoided surgery and met a superb physiotherapist, but also extremely aware that my problems could have been avoided.

I am a physiotherapist and I have worked with countless people with similar problems. It frustrates me that there is this huge problem staring everyone in the face, yet it continues to be ignored, when there is so much that can be done to change it.

1.2 million people who worked during the last year in the UK were suffering from an illness they believed was caused or made worse by their current or past work (Health and Safety Executive, 2009). Musculoskeletal disorders were the most commonly reported illness. 

The above fact may not be surprising however the shocking consequences of this are that 30 million working days are lost in the UK due to occupational illness and injury, costing the economy an outrageous £30billion (Building a case for wellness, PWC 2008).

I think these facts potentially underestimate how many people are actually continuing at work in pain and how many will be in pain in the future if they continue working in the way that they do.

A lot of us know this and accept it as normal and OK and think it’ll never happen to us. The world and the way in which we work is changing so fast that often, with naivety or apathy, we continue to ignore it.

This is something that is in fact very much not OK. Should we be sitting by and accepting a bad back like its just occupational ‘collateral damage’?  I believe it is something that we have the capacity to change. Thankfully in some places things are already changing.

I am on a journey with some friends and colleagues to try and address this problem and empower people to prevent and cure work related back pain, in particular pain caused by working with computers. In the coming months I will share our progress and am hoping to learn as much as possible from people that have experienced pain through work. If you have anything to contribute, please share your experiences and points of view.

The kind of questions I’m trying to answer are:

• How much of a problem is it?
• How much do people think about it?
• What can be done to help reduce the problem?

Although I am very keen to hear about people’s experiences of pain in the workplace, please remember any opinions or advice I give in future blogs is generalised and not necessarily applicable to all. If you are experiencing pain, please consult a medical professional for specific advice.