It is not news that the global economy at large is hurting. Whether you're in the United States or around the world, the prolonged economic slump is something that's no surprise to millions of people today. However, what might come as a surprise to some people, is not a surprise once you settle in and think about it. A slumping economy could be directly related with a slumping posture. What I mean to illustrate is that the productivity of workers with back pain could be hurting the economy due to lack of motivation and work effort output due to chronic or severe pain in the back. That's right, back pain and economy walk hand in hand.
While many people do not consider back pain and the well being of the economy, some governments are recognizing that as a problem that could help productivity rise and health insurance claims drop, resulting in a larger overall wealth. For instance the "Better Backs" campaign launched in the U.K. is a great movement to help work related back pain and illness to not only be identified but also stopped. The sole purpose of the Better Backs campaign is to help reduce work-related back pain by not only grass roots local campaign events, but also larger safety meetings with top companies. The campaign has been a huge success for the past several years and has helped promoted lifting aids, and other safety devices to help assist workers.
Australia recently launched initiatives to inform workers of safer lifting techniques, and introduced many companies to new ways of helping their employees stay healthy and continue working throughout various workshops, and informative meetings at both corporate and grass roots levels. The United States recently saw some movement for better backs, with information and funding to help educate workers on how to stay health in the work place. By keeping healthy in the work place, the economy could bounce back from a recession and continue to make moves. This is definitely a good sign that back pain and economy are bed fellows, although not often spoken of in the same sentence.
A correlation between healthy workers and a growing economy is easily seen. For instance, take the massive tech sector, with all of the millions of employees typing away at their keyboard. They can not perform their tasks at optimum speed and quality if their backs are in constant pain. Back pain could also lead to neck pain, eye strain, and in some cases carpal tunnel syndrome. If this sector of workers can not perform their duties over long periods of time, the tech sector could collapse, losing millions of jobs in the process. An economic disaster could be thwarted over time, by simply giving and implementing healthy information for workers that could suffer from back injuries from doing their job.
One must remember that if employees are not at work, and healthy, the economy can not flourish. Avoiding sickness really is an important factor in regards to back pain and economy. A worker that can avoid the pitfalls of prolonged back pain could very well be an asset to both country and work.
