Does your back hurt? Do you think about your back? Do back exercises? Had surgery, acupuncture, injections, or physical therapy to help your back? Do you think about how long you have to sit or on what surface when invited to travel or attend an event?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, you’re probably among the vast majority of Americans who experience back pain; studies show up to eighty percent of the population will have some level of back pain at some point in their lives.
What spurred me thinking about all this?
A recent trip my wife and I took to Mexico City. Okay, and what does any of this have to do with law?
Read more and I’ll try to explain my thought process.
The Trip
Our trip to Mexico City was to celebrate our twentieth anniversary. In addition to experiencing wonderful people, practicing our school Spanish badly, eating some fabulous meals from the simple to the sublime, and understanding how bad traffic can be when you cram twenty million people and six million cars into an old city, we also visited the Anthropology Museum.
Great museum. One exhibit was an ancient indigenous sculpture of a spine. As she often does, my wonderful wife told me to take a picture, because, “you never know; you could use it for a blog.” And so here we are!
The attached photo is of that exhibit. It shows that even several thousand years ago, people were thinking of their backs. This being far before couches, televisions, airplane seats, or sedentary lifestyles, apparently they still thought about their back problems enough to create a sculpture of a spinal column.
The Back, Always the Back
I remember watching Monday Night Football as a kid and the infamously loquacious Howard Cosell (a lawyer!) constantly commenting on injuries “the knee; always the knee.” I’m not sure how accurate Howard was in assessing injuries, but there were a lot of knee injuries back in the day (before we understood how common—and serious—concussions were). But back injuries, neck injuries, and other spinal injuries occurred pretty regularly too. Maybe they were not as obvious or dramatic, but interview just about anyone who ever played football and they will probably mention back or neck injuries frequently.
Thinking about the present day and my trip specifically, I started thinking about all the different ways my own back was affected by traveling. Let’s see: for starters, our flight was delayed twice for a total of seven hours, so sitting in uncomfortable airport chairs didn’t help. Sitting in a tiny airplane seat, sleeping in an unfamiliar bed with an unfamiliar mattress, not having my trusty foam roller to use for morning stretches, and walking all day on hard and uneven pavement were just a few of the ways the trip messed with my back.
In fact, travel or not, our daily lives are designed to aggravate our backs and necks. We stare down at our phone screens and sit in cars, buses, or trains to commute to and from work or school. Our work or school chairs are rarely designed for comfort, and all this sitting is simply not great for our back health.
Back to the Start to End
I have handled hundreds of cases involving back injuries over my career of nearly thirty five years. In almost every situation, people complained about how much the back pain impacted their ability to do everyday activities, let alone enjoy recreation and have fun.
Most people would rather have a healthy, pain-free back than any amount of money. No one can ever pay you enough money to make your back better. Your best bet is to take care of your back health so that if you do suffer a back injury, your back can withstand the shock and allow you to keep functioning.
My own father always had back problems. He exercised, was thin, but had to run through a range of daily exercises and stretches in order to function with minimal pain. Due to his work on his core, he played golf and walked several miles at a time (fast) into his late 80s.
I’ve had back issues since my late 20s, and over the years I have learned the importance of core stability work. I go to the gym at least twice a week and spend at least thirty minutes a session just on core. I stretch daily. I use a foam roller. And I move around a lot. I walk the dog up to four miles daily and I bicycle ride at least an hour or so daily.
Standing or adjustable desks are a great invention. I strongly recommend getting one if you haven’t made the plunge already.
If you want to keep your back healthy and your life enjoyment high, take care of your back. Just like the ancient Aztecs did.
Takeaways
- The great majority of people suffer back pain
- Modern life is not conducive to healthy backs, so you have to work to keep yours healthy
- Take care of your back so it can take care of you
- If you do injure your back in a work incident, car crash, or slip and fall, you know who to call
Contact Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Stephen Hoffman
As in all cases involving personal injury, auto crashes, dog bites or injuries, workers’ compensation, medical malpractice, or other injury and potential liability, if you have been hit by a vehicle, immediately get medical treatment, report the crash to police and your own insurance company, and contact a lawyer with expertise in your type of case, such as bicycle accidents or pedestrians hit by cars.
If you’ve been in an accident and have questions, contact Chicago personal injury attorney Stephen L. Hoffman for a free consultation at (773) 944-9737. Stephen has over 30 years of legal experience and has collected millions of dollars for his clients. He is listed as a SuperLawyer, has a 10.0 rating on Avvo, and is BBB A+ accredited. He is also an Executive Level Member of the Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce.
Stephen handles personal injury claims on a contingency fee basis, which means you don’t pay anything up front, and he only gets paid if you do. Don’t wait another day; contact Stephen now.