Home » » Chiropractic Health » Happiness and Contentment and Your Low Back

Happiness and Contentment and Your Low Back

© Dr. David L. Phillips

One of the really great things about the Internet is the access that it gives everyone to free information (like Suite101). I subscribe to a number of free newsletters. One of the better ones comes from the Chiroweb. Chiroweb is a vast site comprehensive of most of my profession. There is an extensive archival section of past articles from their profession news publication entitled Dynamic Chiropractic. This is newsletter is designed and published for patients, but I like to read what we are telling them so I monitor it. If you would like to subscribe go to http://chiroweb.com/find/tyh_new.php3.

This week the lead article in the electronic newsletter was very interesting. It probably falls into the category of “observing the commonplace and stating the obvious” as the late Robert Rodale of Prevention magazine fame was fond of saying. However, sometimes it is gratifying to read that science has proven our gut feelings.

The subject of the article was the relationship of lower back pain and job satisfaction. A study conducted in England has shown that people who are dissatisfied with their state of employment (or unemployment, as the case may be) were two to three times more likely to miss work or receive treatment for back pain than those who are job-happy. This study was reported in The Annuals of Rheumatic Diseases 1998;57:500-502.

Back pain is common: more common than the common cold. It is the number one reason for job absenteeism and for disability and workplace insurance claims. The economic costs of low back pain are staggering . The article points out that fewer and fewer people in the industrialized world work in jobs requiring manual labour. However, back problems are just as prevalent in sedentary jobs and occupations requiring repetitive light tasks or great amounts of standing. I was taught that the most common occupation that I would see as a chiropractor would be truck drivers, the second most frequent patient a material handler and the third most common chiropractic patient would be a nurse. Largely, this seems true, job satisfaction notwithstanding.

If you have a recurrent history of back problems that causes you to miss work frequently perhaps you should ask yourself some soul-searching questions: Is this pain that I get so often a reflection of work place unhappiness? Is my back pain a veiled message transferring my state of mind to my physical disability? Am I satisfied and fulfilled in my current occupation? What can I do to effect a change in my job so that I can become more fulfilled? Should I seek another position, another occupation, or another career in order that I can find some happiness?

The copyright of the article Happiness and Contentment and Your Low Back in Chiropractic Health is owned by . Permission to republish Happiness and Contentment and Your Low Back in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.