Unresolved back or head pain, mental health issues can mean more serious health issues, study reveals.
There are many things to potentially think about when considering what it is that is at the core of poor health. The term “poor health” is rather general and vague to begin with, so it’s up to the individual to think about what it is that leads to such a situation. Of course, those feelings are likely to be highly specific to the person, as most people will associate poor health with whatever it is that tends to plague them the most. A new study has succeeded in pinning down what tends to lead to poor health with more specificity. There are three causes that tend to lead to poor health more than all other factors, back pain, headaches, and depression. This is an interesting finding and may provide motivation for future researchers to work on how those issues can better be resolved so patients can enjoy an improved quality of life.
The first of the three poor health factors that were identified in this study was headaches. That one probably isn’t a surprise to anyone who deals with headaches regularly, as it certainly is hard to go through day-to-day life in a positive frame of mind when a headache is causing pain and distraction. Of course, headaches are notoriously hard to address, as they can have many different causes and simple over-the-counter medications don’t always do the trick. So, the fact that they are so disruptive and so hard to get rid of makes headaches a condition that surely deserves a spot in this top three.
In some ways, although they are completely different issues, low back pain shares some characteristics with headaches. Both of these issues are hard to treat and can be difficult if not impossible to get rid of, and they can pretty much bring life to a halt for many people. Whether caused by a specific injury or just the wear and tear of daily life, low back pain can have a major impact on what people are able to do each day, and how much they are able to enjoy it.
The third piece of this puzzle is not physical pain but rather a mental health issue that has been impacting record numbers of people in recent years. Depression is a major factor in poor health, and while it isn’t the type of condition that triggers physical pain responses, it can bring life to a stop just the same. And, like our other two conditions, depression is also difficult to treat and can linger for years and years.
Whether it is one of these three causes or some combination of them, there is no doubt that millions of people have their quality of life impacted by the problems that have been discussed above. While none of them have an easy fix available – which is why they tend to give so many people trouble – there is hope for the future that better treatments and improved awareness of the problems will lead to better care and more optimistic outlooks for people dealing with any of these conditions.
Sources:
Low back pain, depression, headaches main causes of poor health: Study
Back, Lower Limb, and Upper Limb Pain Among U.S. Adults, 2019
Join the conversation!