BACKACHE is the oldest agony
that the mankind suffers from. In the prehistoric era, even the angels must
have suffered from it. Though in the ancient Indian literature, no direct
mention of this disease is made, it can be safely assumed that in the epic
period of Mahabharata, Bhishma Pitamaha must have had some backache when he was
lying on the bed of thorns.
NOT ALL PATIENTS OF BACKACHE NEED
SURGERY. MOST OF THEM CAN BE TREATED WITHOUT OPERATION.
Fig: 1
Whatever be the exact
etiology of backache, it is for the medical scientist & the Pundits in the
field to determine. Human back is a big Pandora box. Causes for backache are
many. They range from a thorn prick in the foot to prolapsed inter-vertebral disc in the spine. Even, a trauma to
human pride can cause backache. It will be no exaggeration to compare the
backache with an elephant that the six blind men wanted to know about. One of
them called it a pillar, other called it a wall, third called it a rope, fourth
it a flap of lather, & so on. Similarly many scientists have approached the
problem of backache from different angles & have ascribed as many reasons
as its causes & suggested remedies for the same; depending on their own
concept of human back –its structure & functions.
In last few decades, much
scientific work has been done; data compiled & analysed to determine the
exact cause of backache. It is estimated that at one point or other in their
lives, eight out of every ten people on earth suffer from this universal
affliction. It can strike almost every one, the young & the old, male &
female, people of all classes 7 & profession. Biggest leaders of the world
have suffered from backache. President John F Kennedy spent hours in the
soothing comforts of White House rocking chair, only to nurse his backache,
This was his war time injury.
The largest group of people who suffer from this are the
young housewives who have small children & are fully occupied at home. They
have no outside job. When they have backache, a double burden is imposed on the
family. If the person affected is the chief bread earner, then the situation
becomes all the more worse.
Backache is not a killing disease, but it certainly cripples
the individual for the time being. No one except the victim can truly
understand the complete sense of helplessness & despair that overcomes,
once an energetic adult who is suddenly struck down by the devastating, usually
temporary ailment. The victim’s world quickly shrinks, often limited at the
onset to bed or couch. Work & house-hold rituals are totally ignored due to
pain. Dressing becomes torturous, a visit to toilet is a major expedition,
sitting in chair for reading or eating can be an agony. Sex becomes virtually
impossible. Even after the pain subsides, the sufferer wonders, almost at every
turn, whether it will strike again.
Beyond the personal grief, back pain exerts a staggering
socio economic cost. Million & millions of work days are lost each year
because of backache. It is the single largest cause of worker absenteeism in
all the countries of the world.
The remedies
are simple & effective in most of cases. The most important being ‘not to
get tense & nervous’. An objective personal assessment of the disability
with a relaxed mind & a wilful relaxation of the
whole body coupled with a few pills & postures ( remedial exercises) is
perhaps the secret of success in getting rid of this man’s oldest agony. But in some cases even surgery
or psychotherapy may be needed.
In the present series, I have attempted,
step by step, how to modify the style of daily living so that this ‘devastating
though temporary ailment’ can be prevented.
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