Those working in an office, or otherwise primarily sitting at a desk for many hours a day, often experience pain, in fact, studies show as many as 93% of office workers experience nonspecific pain.
Many times, the pain they are experiencing is considered "nonspecific" because it doesn't have a specific cause like an injury, illness, or something found on imaging ... it is real pain but with no known or specific cause.
Due to the amount of sitting, their ergonomics in their workstation, static work, and improper seating, office workers find themselves at a higher risk of nonspecific pain than others in jobs that naturally have more physical activity associated with them.
This study was done in Turkey and involved 77 office workers who were suffering from nonspecific pain in their neck, mid back, low back, and/or their extremities. All participants completed a quality of life questionnaire, then received chiropractic treatment, and once again completed the quality of life questionnaire after the chiropractic treatment.
In general, it was found that "...women had significantly higher [quality of life] scores than men, the 18-to-35 age group had higher [quality of life] scores compared with the 50-to-65 age group, and those married had significantly higher [quality of life] scores than those who were not married..." post chiropractic treatment.
Although there are limitations to this study - some participants only received 1 chiropractic treatment which may not have been appropriate for their condition (just like 1 physical therapy session is not appropriate for all conditions), it was a relatively small study, and there was no control group.
That said, ANY improvement in someone's quality of life is significant because that improvement often becomes a domino effect on other areas of their life, their physical health, mental health, their social wellbeing ... it can have quite an impact on someone's life!
In our office, we often talk about improving the quality of life for our patients. Sometimes this isn't bringing their pain down to 0/10, but it is improving their range of motion or their mobility so they can hug their children or they can continue to ride horses. It's great when we can decrease pain, but life is about much more than that!
This is not medical advice, please see your PCP or medical provider before making any lifestyle, medication, supplement, dietary, etc changes
Comments