You may not know how easy it is to damage your back.

The most common type of serious back injury is caused by repeated damage to the material that separates the bones in our spine, (intervertebral disc). This material is spongy and this flexibility allows us to move.

As we repeatedly load the disc, either through manual handling or supporting the weight of our upper torso (e.g. when leaning for extended periods), damage eventually occurs.

Unfortunately there are very few nerve endings in this material so we are not aware we are damaging it.

As we rest, the swelling reduces, the spongy material repairs itself and we forget about our back pain. What we don't appreciate, is that some of the damage will not completely repair. As we get older, we have an increasing level of damage to this material and hence we become more susceptible to back-pain and if we continue to neglect our backs, this may ultimately lead to serious back injury.