Medical experts at the Lagos University Teaching hospital, LUTH, on Wednesday said most cases of spine and joint pains are due to postural challenges even as they raised the alarm over the increasing number of younger persons coming down with health conditions associated with postural problems.
The experts who called for more awareness on the benefits of maintaining good postures always said most health challenges including spine, cervical and low back pain among others are associated with postural
Speaking during a lecture tagged: “Postural Challenges and Barriers to Productive Active Service Life” to mark LUTH’s 60th Anniversary, the Chairman of, the Medical Advisory Committee, Prof Wasiu Adeyemo urged Nigerians and health workers to take charge of their posture while walking, working, sitting, and lying down. He said there is a need for all individuals to be fit in order to be productive at work and at home. Adeyemo lamented that many Nigerians are ignorant of the need for good postures and their many benefits and implications when not observed.
In their presentation, the duo of Dr Rotimi Kareem and Chzoba Igwe from LUTH’s Physiotherapy Department urged Nigerians to be intentional about how they position themselves while performing a task both at work and at home as there are an increasing number of people coming down with problems around the spine, lumber joints etc.
They explained that good posture is how individuals stabilise their body against gravity while lying, sitting, kneeling and standing relative to the immediate environment.
In his submission, Dr. Rotimi Kareem said: “Over the years, we have observed that majority of cases at the clinic is due to postural syndrome, some which are cercal, low back pain but after assessment, the underlining is postural problems due to inadequate knowledge of postural practices.”
Kareem who is also an Assistant Director at LUTH and Associate Lecturer at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, said postural challenges can lead to low quality of life; hence, the need for a dedicated postural clinic as every job has its postural hazard.
He said the postural challenge is a lifetime contest against forces of nature, especially gravity.
“Winning this contest by maintaining adequate muscle strength and balance will enhance our productive and active service life while losing this contest by our inability to maintain adequate muscle strength and balance will constitute a barrier to our productive and active service life.”
Kareem said good posture results from proper alignment between the muscles, ligaments, joints and our immediate environment and can lead to reducing the risk of joint, muscle pain, and stress among others.
He stressed the need for individuals to always take a short break of 20 to 30 minutes from sitting for too long at work, listing top job risk factors of postural disorders among health workers to include; low back pain, spinal joint dysfunctions, degenerative joint diseases, rounded shoulder, and potbelly.
He further recommended that the management of LUTH should establish a postural clinic for the assessment, management and education in LUTH and the development and implementation of standard operative procedures for healthcare workers to minimize postural challenges.
Chizoba Igwe called for more awareness on good posture as job of health workers is very demanding.
“People should be intentional about how they position themselves while performing a task at work and at home because we are seeing a lot of people at the clinic with problems around the spine and joints and it is no longer among the elderly but younger persons.”