The whole world complains of back pain. Ailments that affect the quality of life and increase the risk of developing depression or psychosis.
Painful lower back, neck jams, muscle contractures… Back pain rots the lives of millions of people. Pain, sometimes chronic, which also weighs on mental health. A study published in the newspaper General Hospital Psychiatry shows that people who are victims of these ailments are at risk of suffering from anxiety, stress or psychosis.
To reach these conclusions, researchers at Anglia Ruskin University (Great Britain) examined health data from nearly 200,000 people living in 43 low- and middle-income countries. Data collected during the World Health Survey, launched by the World Health Organization in 2001.
1 in 3 people have back pain
The researchers’ analysis revealed that more than a third of the participants suffered from lower back pain, and nearly 7% from chronic pain. Back pain seemed to mostly affect Nepalese (57% complained of back pain), Bangladeshis (53%) and Brazilians (52%). Conversely, the Chinese are the least concerned by the evil of the century: only 13% of the population suffers from back pain.
These ailments have a significant impact on the quality of life and affect mental health. People with debilitating pain are twice as likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, stress, psychosis or sleep deprivation than others. And when these pains become chronic (a pain that persists for 3 months), the risk of depression is multiplied by 3, and the risk of psychosis by 2.6.
Sedentary lifestyle called into question
“Our results suggest that back pain has important consequences on mental health, and these could make it more difficult for the pain to disappear,” said Dr. Brendon Stubbs, one of the leaders of the work. The exact causes have not yet been established. Further work will therefore be necessary, in particular to develop effective treatments. It is also important for healthcare professionals to be aware of this link in order to refer their patients to specialists ”.
In France, one in five people suffers from back pain. Each year, around 6 million people consult their GP for low back pain. For experts, the cause of these more than frequent pains can be summed up in one word: sedentary lifestyle. They are unanimous, our body is not made to sit for hours.
However, our way of life is organized around the station sitting and lying down, as the formula “metro-work-sleep” summarizes it well. Being active is therefore the best means of prevention. And no need to run the marathon, stretch in the morning and evening, walk, and do some weight training are often enough.
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