City to target back pain problem.

A LIVERPOOL organisation is helping to combat the amount of working days lost because of back pain in the city.

Liverpool PCT, in partnership with Liverpool-based Health@Work, is aiming to tackle the problems of an ageing workforce with new guidelines to encourage patients to deal with the problems which cause the ailment.

Frances Molloy, executive director of Health@Work, said: "Our workforce is ageing and back pain has become incredibly common - over 80% of the UK population have suffered from some form of back pain in their lifetime.

"The problem is that we often treat the symptoms not the cause.

"Patients will go through the treatment process and the recovery, but then go back to doing the same activities which caused the back pain in the first place.

"The new guidelines we've worked on with the Liverpool PCT, give GPs the option to refer patients to us. We will look at a patient's working environment and advise where things need to be changed in order to stop back problems reoccurring, this can be anything from changing someone's seat in an office to reviewing manual handling tasks."

GP Dr Denis O'Brien added: "Most patients believe that the best course of action when they have back pain is to do nothing and lie in bed. This is usually the worst thing you can do as it aggravates the problem and your muscles weaken.

Keeping active is best and will ensure muscles remain fit and strong."

Call 0151 236 6608 or e-mail info@healthat workcentre.org.uk for more information.