Take Charge Now

    A new study of 4,390 Danish elderly twins, (people over 70 for this study) for mortality showed those with back and neck pain had an increased rate from general causes and cardiovascular specific disease. The study showed that there was a 13% more chance of dying when there was neck or spine pain than those who were pain free.
    Associate Professor Paulo Ferreira, an author of the study, was quoted as saying “These findings warrant further investigation because while there is a clear link between back pain and mortality we don’t know yet why this is so. Spinal pain may be part of a pattern of poor health and poor functional ability, which increases mortality risk in the older population.”
    The majority of back pain is usually treated with medication, Physical Therapy and occasional surgery. However, this study becomes significant when you stop to realize that back pain may not necessarily be a simple isolated problem and that any spine pain must always be viewed with a wary eye. 
    Back/Spine pain now needs to be thought of in health care planning as a potential life threatening co-morbidity with screening an integral and necessary part of all routine medical exams, particularly in the elderly.
    All this makes sense when you think about it, if you have been following my fitness drift. With all the potential pitfalls of not staying healthy, people don’t move much when they have back pain. thus, the health problems.  
    And now, it is even more important for skilled Medical providers to participate in fitness and healthy life planning. You need a professional trained to help spot those potential life threatening signals
    And that ten-minute walk that I have been talking about…better make it twenty and do it now with someone you care about.   And don’t forget to call your Physical Therapist…You’ll be glad you did
Tom Coplin PT
Central Physical Therapy