Here are two more tips to strengthen and protect your back while working.

Set yourself up for success: your work environment can have a big impact on your comfort and musculoskeletal health. Instead of forcing your body to fit your workspace, set up your workspace to fit your body.

Do you experience regular back pain? You’re not alone. According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, more than 1 in 4 working adults experience low back pain.

Not only is it painful, but studies show that back pain can limit your activities and impact your ability to work. In fact, the health policy institute found it to be a leading cause of work-loss days, with 83 million days of work lost per year.

It’s sometimes unavoidable that we have to lift a heavy or cumbersome object. Using some basic precautions, you can minimize the likelihood of pulling a muscle or otherwise injuring yourself in the process of lifting.

The most important thing to remember is to bend at the knees when lifting a heavy weight. Let your leg muscles do the lifting. If you bend at the waist and straighten up with the weight, you’re making your back muscles bear the weight.

Chiropractic’s integration into professional sports medical teams has resulted in the creation of the Professional Baseball Chiropractic Society (PBCS). Many of the team chiropractors in Major League Baseball were in attendance, as well as a few from minor league baseball at the first annual PBCS workshop held in March 2015. This first seminar even included a surprise visit from former MLB manager Joe Torre, who took some time to address those in attendance on how beneficial chiropractic was not only to him, but also to the players on the teams he managed.

Anticonvulsant drugs are increasingly being used to treat low back pain, but a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) finds they are ineffective and can have adverse effects. Clinically, the prescription of anticonvulsants for back and neck pain, including radicular pain in primary care, has increased by 535% in the last 10 years. Low back pain affects millions of people and is the number one cause of disability.

One of the perils of advancing age is the fall, which can leave a person with a debilitating injury like a broken hip. Muscle and bone strength deteriorate over the years as does our ability to stay balanced. The American Chiropractic Association recommends a number of practices to help avoid a fall:

Periodically review with your physician the type and dosage of prescriptions you may be taking. Some can cause dizziness or lightheadedness.

A healthy back and spine, of course, are vital to your well-being. The spine protects the spinal cord, which transmits signals back and forth between the brain and the body’s other parts. But you have to be careful with all the body’s joints and protect them to maintain a good quality of life. Here are some tips to keep in mind during routine daily activity:

Keep your weight under control. Every excess pound you carry puts unnecessary strain on joints, including hips, knees and ankles. Excess weight also puts strain on your feet.

A recent study examined whether chiropractic spinal manipulation could lead to an increased risk of cauda equina syndrome (CES), a rare but serious condition affecting the bundle of spinal nerve roots in the lower back that requires emergency surgery. This retrospective study analyzed medical record data for over 130,000 adult patients from academic medical centers who received either chiropractic spinal manipulation or physical therapy evaluation for low back pain in the United States.

In a study published in Nature Mental Health, scientists have found that individuals suffering from chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) may face a higher high risk of brain aging.

CMP is a leading cause of disability, affecting more than 40% of the world’s population and impacting patients’ cognitive function. Although the exact mechanism is not fully understood, thus hampering prevention and treatment efforts, research indicates that inflammatory markers associated with brain aging are higher in CMP patients, suggesting a link between brain aging and CMP.

A new study has found that adults initially receiving chiropractic spinal manipulation for newly diagnosed radicular low back pain (sciatica) were significantly less likely to be prescribed Tramadol over the following year compared to those receiving usual medical care.

Tramadol is a synthetic opioid that has been increasingly prescribed for low back pain in the United States (U.S.) over the past decade. While Tramadol has a lower potency compared to other prescription opioids, it still carries risks of persistent use and adverse events.