Professor Dietrich Grönemeyer’s fight against back pain
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The disadvantage of walking on two feet
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The physician professor Dietrich Grönemeyer Phd, brother of the musician Herbert Grönemeyer, seized the bestseller’s hit lists with his book „Mein Rückenbuch – Das sanfte Programm zwischen High Tech und Naturheilkunde“ (State-of-the-art and naturopathic medicine on back pain). Wilhelm Klümper, editor of Mensch & Büro (M&B), talked to the physician about possible causes of back pain and their prevention as well as treatment.
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M&B: Does the human body suffer from the evolutionary gift of walking upright?
Grönemeyer: Walking on two feet is not only a mechanical performance of the skeleton but also a masterpiece of the brain and nerves. But the disadvantage of this evolutionary development is back pain. Unlike other quadruped whose spines remain in a horizontal position, apes bent their spines vertically just above the sacrum, when they started walking upright.
M&B: What do the statistics on back disorders look like in Germany?
Grönemeyer: Back disorders are the most common disorders and employees take more sick leaves because of back problems as for any other disorder. 35 % of youngsters already suffer from slipped discs or degenerative disc diseases.
M&B: Is there a figure showing the economic damage caused by back pain?
Grönemeyer: Approximately 25 billion euros are claimed every year from health and pension insurers for the treatment of bone and muscle degradation, arthrosis and arthritis as well as rheumatism and spinal disorders. German economy loses another 20 billion euros every year due to dropouts caused by disorders of the muscular skeletal diseases, which amounts to 71.5 million days of sick leave every year.
M&B: Who suffers most from back pain? The builder lifting heavy weights or the office employee who carries a few folders and otherwise hardly moves?
Grönemeyer: That is an individual issue as problems depend on the overall skeletal stability or likewise the specific muscle development. Of course it is very important to ease the life of your spine by adequately lifting and carrying things but also to sit properly. In any case, it is vital to change unbalanced sitting positions while working at your desk at a regular basis and to do some exercising or sport. 80% of chronic back pain are due to weak back muscles and continued, false posture. Affected professions are for example cashiers, office employees, violinists, dentists or cameramen at TV or the movies. Apart from supporting the body, the muscles also cushion most of the weight which affects the spine. This means that, especially if your back is subject to certain movements and postures, specific exercised should be applied in order to strengthen the back and the muscles such as the cowl, deltoid , rhomboid, broad triangular and sacrospinalis muscle which all have specific functions. These exercises prevent painful tensions but also slipped discs. But it is as important to also consider tension release in certain muscles which are continuously overstrained. Stretching is always important, not only during work but especially just before muscles are being used, e.g. before lifting weights or exercising.
M&B: What is the best sitting position for an office employee?
Grönemeyer: It is important to carefully choose the right, ergonomically designed furniture which not only ensure proper posture but also allow relaxed leaning back now and then. Sitting on a swinging stool or Swiss ball for a few minutes is all helpful, strengthening and relaxing for your back. The desk height should be adjusted to the individual height of the employee; by now there are height adjustable tables available. In order to enable your feet to rest on a support use a footstool if necessary. The rule for the right distance between eyes and screen is that the eyes should be at the same level as the upper screen edge in order to look at it from above rather than below. I especially recommend to change posture during work from time to time. In order to do so, just find a different place for the telephone. This will make you to rise from the desk and stand up spontaneously now and then. Why not use a lectern for a change? It is also very helpful to take a break from work for some relaxing exercises.
M&B: Can an ergonomically designed chair prevent or ease back pain?
Grönemeyer: Of course, I recommend the use of an ergonomically designed chair. But too much sitting and remaining in unbalanced positions or muscle tension is never good for our body. Proper sitting alone does not strengthen the muscles. Only moving and exercising lead to an increase of muscles. Standing up now and then very often eases back pain. Therefore, I think that a lectern is a key component in a modern office.
M&B: You stated that, when we lie down, the spine carries 20 kilograms less than while being seated or standing. Manufacturers of office furniture have developed wide “canvas chairs“ which allow a quick rest in the office. Do you approve this?
Grönemeyer: Yes, I very much approve this. Changing the position, proper sitting for muscle strengthening and the opportunity to relax your back are good. But active training is also important. This comprises the strengthening of specific muscles as well as stretching, especially when growing older.
M&B: Employees in avant-garde offices produce good ideas not only at their desks but also in hammocks and using gaming machines. Spending your office day in a seated position contradicts to the New Work concept. Do you regard this as a positive health trend?
Grönemeyer: Flexibility is always preferable and so are motion and change during the normal work day. Many body parts benefit from that: the back, muscles, joints, the cardio-vascular system and not to forget the brain.
M&B: What do you think of the famous concept of Scandinavian work places, which allow adjustment to any height, even for standing up, and conquers Germany ?
Grönemeyer: Individually adjustable furniture should always be preferred to standardized products. Every person is different and has other needs.
M&B: Which role do so-called psychosomatic disorders play when it comes to back pain? Is a content and respected colleague as susceptible as a harassed person?
Grönemeyer: You cannot separate body and soul. That is why the mental state plays an important role in back pain. Depression for example manifest very often in back pain or an acute lumbago. Stress causes tension in the body, a process which develops rather unknowingly. The autonomic nervous system causes increased tonicity in the muscles. Permanent or extreme stress, such as harassment, turn tension into tenseness. Chronic tenseness again leads to stiff muscles, insufficient supply to tissues as well as vessels and as a result to arthrosis of the vertebral joints
M&B: As an expert on backs: Do you have any advice for ergonomists and technicians with furniture manufacturers, who continuously puzzle about health supporting furniture?
Grönemeyer: Enable as much adjustment as possible, also think about furniture suitable for children, the elderly and handicapped. Consider the different and special needs in work areas at home: kitchen, ironing board, garage, workshop etc.
M&B: Your book is also successful as it reflects on a serious health problem in a relaxed and descriptive way. Very serious dealing with such issues often fails to reach a great audience. Should a healthy back not be a more important issue in a sociopolitical environment? Where are the upbeat campaigns by the health office in cooperation with representatives of occupational medicine, staff associations and furniture manufacturers?
Grönemeyer: The big success of my book shows that a trend has been developed. It is preferable when changes are also generated from below, from affected persons, patients. An interdisciplinary campaign, however, has yet to be launched.
M&B: Do you think that already children should be instructed about proper sitting postures in school or do they have an innate feeling for that?
Grönemeyer: Of course, I have been suggesting for a long time to introduce health lessons at schools. It is very, very important to provide children with suitable furniture. This could become a rewarding market for sponsors. Some children still sit on chairs which I used 30 years ago. But first and foremost, I suggest that schools extend PE and offer more opportunities for moving around after the lessons finish. Several units of five minutes each day are enough. Mobility is decreasing while obesity sees a rise. But it is also vital that sport should neither mean too much pressure or stress. Schools should make changes as soon as possible as inflexible, obese children become adults with even more diseases such as early arteriosclerosis, diabetes, deterioration of the back and joints as well as cancer. Sport and exercising at school are key components of prevention.
M&B: What are you doing to help your back?
Grönemeyer: Stretching, hiking, running, swimming and, at weekends, relaxing by listening to music, reading and conversations.
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Mensch & Büro 1/2005 1/2005 |
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Professor Dietrich Grönemeyer explains how we can strengthen and support the self-healing processes in our back.
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