ORTHOPAEDIC experts have decried the growing incidences of back pain among Nigerians saying; over 70 percent of cases seen at orthopaedic hospitals are back pain related problems. 

 

The experts also blamed SO percent of absenteeism from work on back pain. 

 

The specialists who gathered at the 20 IS Annual Scientific Conference of the National Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi, Lagos, NOHIL, traced most of the cases to wrong postures. 

 

Speaking, Medical Director, NOHIL, Dr. Olurotimi Odunubi noted that lots of patients are presenting with back pain which obviously could be prevented by ensuring good positioning. 

 

Most back pain today is caused due to bad postures, bad positioning such as sitting posture and lying down position. Unfortunately, all these types of back pain are preventable. And once they occur you need a good clinician to have a high index of suspicion because there is so many causes of back pain. So you have to be able to identify the particular cause of the pain and treat appropriately because wrong diagnosis will lead to wrong treatment and the patient will not feel better at the end of the day." 

 

Odunubi said the workshop was designed to teach the public, health care givers how to make the correct diagnosis and apply the right treatment and management for back pain as there have been some challenges in convincing patients on how to manage the problem. 

 

 

The Guest Lecturer who spoke on "Current Concepts in the Management of Back Pain", Prof S.O Giwa described back pain as ''youth leaving the body" explained that back pain remains one of the commonest conditions orthopaedic surgeons get to treat and more common in the lower back specifically in the lumbosacral segment. 

 

Giwa said 60 to 70 percent of the orthopaedic clinics are occupied by back pain patients. 

 

He however disclosed that "as we all age, whether we like it or not we will suffer from back pain at one point or the other. As soon as you start getting to middle age, and becoming elderly, you will start getting back pain." 

 

On current management of back pain, Giwa explained that due to research, management of back pain has assumed a new dimension with the use of stem cells, veering away from surgical interventions. "The system now use what is available in the body that is stem cells which will now put back in the areas where we have disc issues with the belief that the disc can be regenerated. "There is also the use of genetic intervention. Just like we have geneticists trying to solve medical and surgical problems with the use of genes, disc problems as a cause of back pain is being looked at from the genetic point of view where we think if you put genes that can replicate or regenerate disc, we might be able to solve a lot of issues of back pain," he added . 

 

Noting that back pain affects all races, he said no one can tell if pack pain can be cured but experts can give medication and surgery, adding that adequate caution should be taken in surgical approaches as back pain has been found to be part of aging. 

 

He recommended weight loss for obese individuals and need for people to do away with sedentary life style as it can predispose one to back pain. 

 

On his part, Chairman, Local Organising Committee, Dr Muna Chira in his welcome address said back pain has generated a lot significant interest as SO per-cent of absenteeism has been linked to back pain. "It is also estimated that 80 percent of adults above SO years of age would have experienced severe back pain at one or more points in their lives. And this figure underscores the decision of the hospital to look at the topic," he said. 

 

He however noted that the back pain could be the first manifestation of serious and life threatening medical conditions in both male and female pelvic viscera. 

 

By Ogechukwu Agwu

Daily Sun