Health Living

We’re celebrating medical advances right here on South African soil, and share interesting facts about chronic back pain.

- Anna Rich

THE TROUBLES I’VE SEEN

A study published in medical journal Pain found that if you land up with chronic back pain (and 80% of us will experience an episode sooner or later), you’re less likely to experience physical impairment and disability than those on either end of the spectrum – those who have had a pain-free life, or a really rough time.

The study also found that a bit of exposure to adversity also protected against mental health problems linked to chronic back pain. One of the researchers, Dr Mark Seery, an associate professor of psychology, says it could be related to resilience. ‘The experience of prior, low-levels of adversity may cause sufferers to reappraise stressful and potentially debilitating symptoms of chronic back pain as minor annoyances that do not substantially interfere with life.’

GO ON THE BLINK