M Bill Physiotherapy is launching a new leaflet on how children and young people can avoid developing back pain, to mark this year’s Back Care Awareness Week (16-21 October).

Back pain can affect people at any age. The new leaflet, entitled ‘Backs for the Future’ and produced by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), gives children and young people, and their parents, advice on how to keep back pain at bay.

Chartered physiotherapist Marcus Bill says that taking care of your back at a young age can prevent problems in later life: ‘Children are finding that modern lifestyles are having an impact on their backs. Days spent sitting on soft sofas and ill-fitting classroom furniture, together with heavy school bags and a rise in obesity, means physiotherapists are seeing more and more young adults with recurrent low back pain’

As well as encouraging children to develop good habits, parents must try to set a good example. Marcus tells parents that: ‘Regular physical activity is important for helping to mobilise and strengthen the spine. As a family, building regular exercise into leisure time and eating a well balanced diet is highly recommended. Being overweight places extra stress on the spinal joints, the hips and the knees.’

Marcus says: ‘The ‘Backs for the Future’ leaflet encourages children and young people to think about the way they sit, carry, walk, move and bend everyday. It provides top tips for both kids and their parents on the best ways to take care of the back. Now is the best time to start dealing with the bad habits that can lead to problems in the long-run.’

For a free copy of the leaflet, send a stamped self-addressed envelope to ‘Backs for the Future’, EHU, The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, 14 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4ED or download it at www.csp.org.uk/leaflets

For more information contact M Bill Physiotherapy on 01278 453477

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy is the professional, educational and trade union body for the UK’s 47,000 chartered physiotherapists, physiotherapy students and assistants.

Back Care Awareness Week is run by the charity BackCare. The theme this year is Protecting Young Backs. For more information visit http://www.backpain.org/pages/b_pages/bcd-menu.php