Back pain -  'leading cause of disability,' study finds but you can and should do everything you can to prevent it. Let's start right now:

Most of us suffer from back pain on a daily basis. I’m not talking about mechanical injuries where the rehab process starts with surgery. No, I’m talking about people who complain about knots and aches around their shoulders, headaches due to neck muscle tension or discomfort around the lower back and hips. If you are one of these people, you can help yourself relatively quickly. 

What is the main contributor to your back pain?

The answer is simple: your lifestyle. 

Stress, long hours behind the desk or driving often lead to bad posture. Lack of movement, even browsing the internet on your phone or tablet after work when you’re chilling on the sofa, is really bad for your neck muscles. But don’t worry — you don’t have to leave your job and become a health freak and live at the gym. After a few years working with back pain patients, I discovered that 3 simple things can significantly reduce or eliminate back pain.

Right now I’ll share my best advice with you — advice that transformed my clients’ lives.

Follow along as I explain how this incredible method works, and how it can be an enormous benefit to you. 

1. Stretching exercises - You would think an office job isn’t physically demanding. You might have to move a few boxes around from time to time, but it’s not exactly manual labour. Unfortunately, sitting for long hours behind a desk can have a devastating effect on your body.

Bad posture, stress and repetitive movement are causing tension to build up in your muscles. Most people complain about tension in the upper back, shoulders and the space between shoulder blades; this is very common, and also easy to reduce with the correct exercises. I don’t mean forcing you to go to the gym and stretch for an hour because all it takes is 4 minutes!

You can do it by your desk at any time! Lower back tension or tension around the hips can be reduced with different sets of very simple exercises. More about which exercises you should do later. 

2.Environment - Once you realise how easy it is to help yourself, take a look at your surroundings. Your workplace is probably the place where you spend the most time, so make sure that everything is set up correctly for you there. ( picture below )

Correcting your posture throughout the day will help you maintain healthy, strong back muscles. Pay attention to what your body is telling you. Does one side hurt more than the other? Maybe your upper back is fine, but your lower back hurts every day.

All this information is very important. Once you identify and analyse your symptoms, you’ll be able to create the best strategy to overcome your back problems.

3. Professional advice - Sports Massage therapists, chiropractors, physios or osteopathic treatments can be very beneficial. All of the above treatment options are great… for certain conditions. It would be very wise for you to start with your GP;

I know many people have seen their GP and returned home with paracetamol, or at the bottom of a long waiting list to see an NHS physio. However, the next time you go to see your GP, ask him/her for an assessment and advice on which treatment is the best option for you. Then, go private and avoid waiting in pain for your appointment with the NHS physio.

There are some very good local therapists, and you can be free of pain very quickly if you follow these 3 steps.