Growing Pains: Teenage Couch Potatoes More Likely to Suffer From Intense Back Pain

If your teen is a bit of a couch potato, you might want to get them to read the following. Why? Well, maybe it might inspire them to get up and get moving a bit more.

The Irish Independent reports that a third of young adults within the 16-24 year old age bracket, regularly suffer from back pain, as a result of spending hours slumped in front of the television or the computer. Are you surprised? For most of us, this won’t come as a shock.

A study, carried out by research company Mintel, found that young adults with back problems (caused by not moving enough) experience the same levels of pain as pensioners. This is worrying, right? Imagine, your 16 year old could be feeling like a 65 year old. It’s disturbing.

Back pain: one of the worst kinds of pain.

“Too much time sitting weakens muscle tone and this can lead to back pain,” said Michelle Strutton, a spokeswoman from Mintel.

“Many of them [teenagers] lead a sedentary lifestyle and lack of sport may be contributing to back pain as well as poor posture. Young people are spending hours at a time slumped in front of TV and computer screens, which is doing nothing to strengthen their backs,” she added.

We all know that if you do anything to your back, you can feel it for years afterwards, therefore it’s so important to look after that part of your body. The back is so sensitive, and it can cause intense pain if you injure it.

If you’re trying to get your teen moving, why not suggest that they join a local sports team or try out a fun form of exercise (think pilates or water aerobics).