Bumpy roads in Bengaluru give young adults pain in the back

Doctors see two-fold rise in youngsters between 20 and 30 years suffering from back pain in last five years; blame potholes, road bumps for this.
Riding over potholes can cause sudden jerks to one’s back.
Riding over potholes can cause sudden jerks to one’s back.

BENGALURU: Recently, a Bengaluru man visited Columbia Asia Hospital in Hebbal with complaints of a severe back pain, which hindered his ability to sit as well. Surprisingly, the 30-year-old was dealing with a condition that mainly occurs post the age of 50 years. In another case, a 25-year-old visited Manipal Hospital on Old Airport road with a similar complaint. In both cases, doctors found that both the youngsters’ commute to work involved bad road conditions.

Doctors have seen an alarming rise in youngsters dealing with lower back pain and claim to get close to 40 such cases in a month. According to them, there has been a two-fold rise in the last five years. “Bad road conditions and improper posture are mainly to blame for this,” said Dr Ravichandra Kelkar, orthopaedics consultant, Columbia Asia Hospital, Hebbal.

Dr Umesh Srikantha, consultant in neurosurgeon and head of spine services at Aster CMI Hospital, agreed and explained, “Due to potholes, a rider’s back can suffer a sudden jerk. Many of them end up with chronic back pain.”

According to Dr PC Jagadeesh, consultant orthopaedics and sports medicine, Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta road, back pains are common since people travel more than 30km a day. “Bumpy roads can affect one’s back. Sometimes it leads to a disk prolapse, which is quite serious,” he added.

Dr Thomas Joseph Kishen from Manipal Hospital on Old Airport Road pointed out that unscientifically built road bumps could also be at fault. “Leftover gravel on roads can cause sudden jerks too. Besides back pain, youngsters can also end up with head injuries or broken bones,” he explained.

Recently, the Bangalore Traffic Police listed down some areas with accident-causing potholes and unscientific road bumps and asked BBMP to look into the situation. BBMP Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun said, “After the orders from the High Court to fill all the potholes, we got most of them filled. We held a meeting last week as well where it was decided that we need to get all the potholes filled. Even the roads that are in a bad condition will be restored.”

Preventive measures

Back-strengthening exercises
Maintain proper posture
Use vehicles with shock absorbers and avoid long 2-wheeler rides
Try using cars more than bikes

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