The British Chiropractic Association (BCA) has revealed through a new study that 37 is the age on average when men start complaining about stress. The study also found that a whopping 82 per cent of men in the UK are currently living with neck or back pain or have suffered in the past.
The study found that modern men has started feeling the stress early and owing to their busy lives – working longer hours, tackling DIY and looking after the kids – they aren’t able to look after themselves.
The study was based on a sample of 2,127 UK adults of which 908 were men between the ages of 16 and 55, wherein it was found that 4 out of 5 (82 per cent) say they currently live with neck or back pain or have suffered in the past compared to 75 per cent a year ago. Further, nearly a quarter (24 per cent) feel pain every day.
The study also found that heavy lifting is the top trigger for almost half (47 per cent) of men, however 41 per cent admit they don’t do anything to proactively look after their backs and 28 per cent opt to self-treat with over the counter medicine.
There are those who are blaming their their size for the strain with 14 per cent think having a big belly has the most negative impact on their back health compared to just 6 per cent of women but according to the experts, this is not necessarily the case.
“There is however, no real correlation between weight and back pain, rather the link is between poor muscle tone and back pain – people who are overweight do tend to have poor muscle tone so it’s important they focus on strengthening the muscles in their back”, says BCA chiropractor, Rishi Loatey.
Loatey advocates following the age old principle of “prevention is better than cure” and suggests that those suffering from pain for more than two days should seek help from a healthcare professional.
“Don’t be tempted to self-treat with over the counter-medicine for a pro-longed period of time as this may be masking the symptoms rather than resolving the problem”, Loatey adds.