Musculoskeletal Wellness

Wellness is a concept which is usually associated with various medical ailments and there is a big market promoting the same. The thrust on lifestyle diseases is more on the long term afflictions that are concerned with the longevity of the life or morbidity associated with the same; diabetes, hypertension, heart related ailments, stress, PCOD, infertility, obesity, and addictions. This are all long term effects of the altered lifestyle witnessed in the recent years.

On the contrary the musculoskeletal aches and pains that are on the rise and occurring in more younger generation are still kept out of the ambit of lifestyle disease. Aches and pains are the earliest manifestation of the sedentary lifestyle that is on the rise nowadays. This requires to be dealt more aggressively and more focused than it is done today. They are all preventable problems and thus the concept of "Musculoskeletal Wellness (MW)" is very relevant today. 

MW includes keeping the patient as pain free as possible within the limitations of his or her zone of function and then gradually expanding the zone to get to the fullest capacity, respecting the wear and tear that is already set in amongst the tissues. A person having aches and pains is someone who is perpetually in a state of restlessness, irritable and performing below his or her capabilities. With the increase in the frequency of aches and pains and lower age group of affliction, it is presumed that the affected are suffering from some form of deficiencies or disease and thus the entire focus remains on identifying a deficiency or a disease which can be attributed as the culprit. 

In most of the cases that is never the case. The aches and pains are occurring out of the lifestyle that has evolved in the last decade and more. This lifestyle is one that requires one to sit for prolonged periods right from the school days which extends in the college, graduate and post graduate courses and also professionally. The education has become so competitive that the teenager is bound to spend hours together studying and this continues unabated in the later stages of his or her life. There is an exponential exposure to the gadgets which also contributes immensely in the development of aches and pains. The similar lifestyle is prevalent among the home make women and the retired personnel. 

Thus the majority of sufferers are the younger, desk workers, housewives and retired people and the concept of MW needs to be applied to them. This people suffer due to exposure to multiple risk factors which include sitting improperly, non ergonomic (not appropriate to their height and body profile) seating and working environment (at work, travel, home, recreation), working on laptops, computers, and hand held gadgets, and lack of any physical activity.

Musculoskeletal Wellness includes identifying the cause for the risk factors, addressing them with principles of posture and ergonomics, thereby offloading the mechanical overload and performing physical activities which include stretching, aerobics and strengthening exercises.

In conclusion, musculoskeletal aches and pains must be considered as a lifestyle disease and aggressive measures for their wellness need to be undertaken. The chances of other lifestyle diseases may reduce in a person who is pain free, happy and performing at or above his capabilities.

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