Women and Back Pain - some facts and figures

Incidence and severity

• Almost 10 million women - over 41% of women have back pain each year ⁽¹⁾
• For 80% of women, their back pain started more than a year ago⁽¹⁾
• All age groups are affected - a third of 16-24 year olds reported back pain in the last year, and nearly half among those aged 45-64 years⁽¹⁾
• More women than men in the youngest and oldest age groups have back pain⁽¹⁾
• Women's back pain tends to last longer than men's. Men are much more likely to have a short, sharp attack⁽¹⁾
• Women are more likely than men to have restricted activity due to back pain

Just being a women is a problem for backs

• Periods can trigger back pain
• Pregnancy and child care increase women's vulnerability to back problems. Studies in the USA indicate that between 40% and 60% of pregnant women get back pain⁽³⁾
• Men's pain is often a result of an injury; women's as part of their everyday lives, a result of long-standing conditions or activities, including domestic work and child care.
• Women are more likely than men to suffer with whiplash injuries in motor vehicle collisions, and have a higher risk of delayed recovery⁽⁸⁾
• The main triggers for women's back pain at home are carrying heavy objects, gardening and vacuuming⁽²⁾

Back pain and work

• Only 17% of women with back pain have had workplace training in the care of their backs⁽⁵⁾
• Health & Safety representatives cite manual handling , which is very strongly associated with back problems, as the second biggest problem caused, or made worse, by work. Only stress causes more difficulties.⁽⁶⁾
• Women are more likely to get back pain if they work in the health services, retailing, hotel and catering, banking, finance and insurance industries.⁽⁶⁾
• Nurses are particularly prone to back pain. 80,000 nurses injure their backs each year and 3,600 are invalided out as a result.⁽⁵⁾

Economic effects

• 44 million working days each year are lost by women because of back pain.⁽⁷⁾

Sources

1. The Prevalence of Back Pain in Great Britain 1998. Office for National Statistics. Social Survey Division, Office for National Statistics
2. Back Ache and Pain. MORI for Electrolux, 1998
3. Perkins, Hammer and Loubert. Journal of Nurse-Midwifery. Vol 43, No.5, September/October 1998, page 334
4. Royal College of Nursing
5. National Back Pain Association Member Survey 1997
6. "No More 'Men Only' Health and Safety". TUC Survey of Safety Representatives, Pete Kirkby 1998
7. Days of certified incapacity for back related problems 1996/7 Department of Social Security
8. "Epidemiology of Whiplash". Mary Louse Skovron. Whiplash Injuries: Current Concepts in Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of the Cervical Whiplash Syndrome. Edited by Robert Gunzeburg and Marek Szpalski. Lippincott-Raven Publishers, Philadelphia 1998.

Back pain is not gender specific

However there are particular issues that affect women in relationship to back pain:

WORK - the work many women do places them at high risk of back pain:

• Repetitive tasks involving pushing, pulling or twisting of the body in jobs such as those performed by supermarket check out staff, production line workers, cleaners and machinists
• Shop and factory floor workers, keyboard and telephone/call centre workers and bank tellers who stand or sit for long periods
• The lifting, bending, stretching and reaching carried out by groups such as child and social care workers, nurses, teachers of small children and counter staff
• Low job satisfaction and pay - on average women earn less than men, work part-time and have poorer career prospects because of child care responsibilities

HOME - where women still undertake the majority of domestic tasks:

• Shopping - carrying heavy loads
• Cleaning - bending, twisting, pushing and pulling
• Ironing - standing and twisting

WOMEN'S HEALTH - factors which contribute towards back pain include:

• Pregnancy - hormonal and other body changes
• Caring for babies and young children - breast feeding, bathing, picking up
• Periods
• Menopause and risk of osteoporosis

FASHION - demands and pressures on women such as:

• High heels to make legs look longer strain and tilt the back
• Tight clothes to emphasise slimness restrict easy movement
• Large busts and implants strain the back

WOMEN, THE FAMILY & SOCIETY - the carers and communicators

• Women generally take care of the family when they are not well and are often the family's health adviser and decision-maker for home purchases such as medicine and furniture
• Women generally provide practical help and emotional support to friends in need
• Women predominate in the caring professions, taking care of others and advising on good health
• Conveying messages of better back care for women will also mean better back care for men and children

1. The Prevalence of Back Pain in Great Britain 1998. Office for National Statistics. Social Survey Division, Office for National Statistics
   
2. Back Ache and Pain. MORI for Electrolux, 1998
   
3. Perkins, Hammer and Loubert. Journal of Nurse-Midwifery. Vol 43, No.5, September/October 1998, page 334
   
4. Royal College of Nursing
   
5. National Back Pain Association Member Survey 1997
   
6. "No More 'Men Only' Health and Safety". TUC Survey of Safety Representatives, Pete Kirkby 1998