Blighted by back pain – moving more at work is a start

As employers face record-highs of sick employees many feel helpless. But Claudia Nicholls, chief customer officer at Simplyhealth, says there is a lot more businesses can do to reverse this sickness epidemic.

Despite knowing the importance of movement for overall wellbeing and preventing muscular pain, many of us are guilty of letting our busy working days take priority over our health.

We know sitting at desks can limit our physical activity and result in significant and unnecessary long-term health effects, yet the support often just isn’t there for us to be able to do otherwise.

Unfortunately, we’re starting to see increasingly urgent evidence that this needs to change. Over a third (36 percent) of employees in Scotland, England and Wales¹don’t meet the minimum physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes of recommended moderate or vigorous intensity activity per week. And a recent study has found that obesity is causing considerable work absenteeism.

We’re also facing record-highs of sick employees with 2.8 million people now off work on long-term sick, with research showing mental health and musculoskeletal (MSK) issues are the top causes of sickness in the workplace². Yet many employers feel helpless. So what more can workplaces be doing to reverse this workforce sickness epidemic? The answer is a lot.

Our research from last year shows a third³ (33 percent) of people think that their physical health issues are having a negative impact on their mental wellbeing at work. Despite this, over a third (36 percent) of employers don’t offer health schemes such as a health plan, employee assistance programmes, or private medical insurance – all of which have the potential to help employees with diagnosis and treatment.

Health-focused culture

Access to better external health support, such as physiotherapy or counselling is crucial, but it’s not enough by itself. The average person spends a third of their life at work⁴, meaning a health-focused culture in the workplace is as important as the access to support offered by employers.

Encouraging frequent bursts of movement in the workplace – whether walking meetings, lunchtime yoga classes, or merely encouraging standing and stretching – can boost mood, improve fitness and strengthen muscles to reduce the long-term risk of illness or injury.

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For those already suffering from back or muscle pain (27 percent of workers in Britain), employers need to do even more. Around a fifth of workers say they would benefit from having access to a physiotherapist, to make them happier and more productive – which is no surprise with over 320,000 of us on a waitlist for NHS community MSK services.

To help the third of employees likely to be struggling with MSK problems, it’s worth considering options available to expedite their treatment. With on-demand healthcare technology, it’s easier than ever to set up access to a virtual physiotherapy tool such as Phio that can help staff avoid long waits and provide them with diagnosis and rehabilitation programmes immediately.

By giving employees the tools to help prevent conditions in the first place through creating a culture that encourages regular movement, and by providing third-party support to give employees access to treatment when they need it, employers can look to a future of happier, and ultimately more productive, staff.

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