A new study found that working in awkward positions significantly increases the risk of developing low back pain, with manual labor in awkward positions raising the risk eight times. Other risk factors were fatigue, distraction, and the time between 7-12am. Nearly 10% of people worldwide suffer back pain, which is the leading cause of disability globally according to the WHO. The study examined almost 1,000 Australians and the activities they engaged in during the 96 hours before back pain started. Understanding modifiable risk factors is important for prevention.

1. Some Jobs Are a Pain in The Back
MONDAY, Feb. 16, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Working in an awkward position significantly
increases the risk of developing low back pain, a new study finds.
Doing manual labor that involved awkward positions increased the risk of low back pain by eight
times. Other significant risk factors included fatigue and being distracted during an activity. The risk
of back pain was highest between 7 a.m. and noon, the Australian researchers found.
The findings were reported in the new issue of the journal Arthritis Care Research.
"Our study is the first to examine brief exposure to a range of modifiable triggers for an acute
episode of low back pain," Manuela Ferreira, an associate professor at the George Institute for
Global Health and Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney in Australia, said in a journal
news release.
Nearly 10 percent of people worldwide suffer back pain at some point in their lives. Back pain is the
leading cause of disability and has a greater impact on global health than malaria, diabetes or lung
cancer, according to the World Health Organization.
The new study included nearly 1,000 people in Australia with acute low back pain who provided
information about what they were doing in the 96 hours before the start of their back pain.
"Understanding which risk factors contribute to back pain and controlling exposure to these risks is
an important first step in prevention," Ferreira said.
SOURCE: Arthritis Care Research, news release, Feb. 9, 2015
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_150984.html