Chronic pain, both here in the United States as well as elsewhere throughout the world, is certainly far from uncommon. In fact, it is estimated that up to one and a half million people are living with some form of chronic pain on a regular – often daily – basis. For the vast majority of people, the toll that this can take is certainly a high one. For many people, this pain comes with age and for this reason is being seen more than ever before all throughout the United States. After all, the Baby Boomer generation is an aging one, with some reports finding that more than one fifth of this country’s population will be made up of the elderly all by the time that we reach the year of 2030, now only just over ten years in the future.
For many of these Baby Boomers, chronic pain has already arrived – or likely will in the years that are ahead. As a matter of fact, more than half of all Baby Boomers will be managing at least one chronic condition, if not multiple, by the time that we reach the year of 2030, which is again not so far off into the future at all. In many cases, this pain will be back pain. After all, back pain is an issue commonly dealt with, and it can encompass a number of different parts of the back. As a matter of fact, lower back pain is particularly commonplace, so much so that more than 65% of all people who live here in the United States feel that back pain, especially low back pain, hampers the course of their day to day life, something that can take a huge emotional toll as well as a physical one, to say the very least.
But what exactly causes this low back pain? For many people, it is simply the way in which we live out our lives. Unfortunately, we have become more sedentary than ever before, something that can likely be attributed to the fact that we no longer have to get up and moving for work, as the vast majority of people in this country are likely to be working sit down desk jobs where such a thing is far from a necessity. Unfortunately, this is less than ideal from the perspective of health, as leading a sedentary lifestyle and sitting in one position all day can lead to everything from gaining unhealthy weight to, of course, back pain. Even young people are finding that they struggle with back and neck pain once they enter the professional world.
Fortunately, there are a number of ways to treat and deal with back pain. If your back pain is the result of an injury, going somewhere like a walk in health clinic is likely to be ideal. The walk in health clinic doctors, of which there are 20,000 of throughout the country, will be able to assess the problem and determine it’s cause. And while a walk in health clinic might not be able to handle all back injuries that come their way, those working at a walk in health clinic can help you to determine whether or not your back pain is cause for an emergency room visit. In a surprising number of cases, however, the walk in health clinic will be able to find a cause for the back pain in question. Your local walk in health clinic will likely even be able to treat it as well.
Of course, the typical walk in health clinic likely won’t be the ideal place to go for chronic pain. Instead of your local walk in health clinic, consider pursuing physical therapy. Physical therapy for back pain is readily available throughout the country and local doctors in the field can help you to get to feeling as back to normal as is possible. Physical therapy options are also more vast and all encompassing than ever before, making it even more likely that physical therapy is something you can incorporate in your own life here in the United States, no matter where you are located.