New Delhi: Every year on October 16, we celebrate World Spine Day, which highlights the importance of spinal health and overall well-being. In addition to this, it also highlights the importance of physical activity, maintaining good posture, practicing safe lifting techniques and ensuring healthy working conditions. It aims to motivate individuals to take care of their spinal health and stay physically active.
World Spine Day 2023: History
World Spine Day was launched in 2008 by the World Chiropractic Federation. Over the years, the WFC has collaborated with various relevant organizations globally to increase awareness of issues such as back pain and other spinal conditions.
Around 1 billion people worldwide suffer from back pain, spinal discomfort and related impairments, across different age groups, genders and ethnicities. Given these striking statistics, it is clear why World Spine Day remains a vital initiative.
World Spine Day 2023: Importance
The main objectives of World Spine Day are to raise awareness about spinal health and disorders and to create a platform for continuous dialogue on the challenges posed by spinal disorders. This mission is of particular importance because millions of people are often unaware of or do not have access to conventional health services intended to treat spinal pain and disability.
World Spine Day 2023: Theme
The theme for World Spine Day 2023 is “Move Your Spine”, which conveys the message to people to take care of their spine by staying active. According to the World Spine Day website, “low back pain remains the leading cause of years lived with disability on the planet. Spinal pain and disability are more common than cancer, stroke, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease combined.”
The Move Your Spine campaign aims to highlight the various aspects of spinal pain and disability, encompassing situations at home, in the workplace, in schools and within communities. This initiative will also address the importance of mobility throughout the life course. It will highlight ways in which individuals, regardless of their background, can maintain spinal health by remaining physically active, avoiding prolonged inactivity, refraining from overloading their spine, and adopting healthy healthy practices like weight management and smoking cessation.
