RAK Hospital launches clinic for neck and back pain

Neck and back pain the leading cause of disability worldwide; the third highest in the UAE for death and disability combined

The premier rehabilitative care provider will be offering free consultation for degenerative spinal problems, followed by X-ray and physiotherapy sessions

January 2, 2017; Ras Al Khaimah, UAE: Lower back and neck pain is one of the leading cause of disability worldwide, and needs serious attention, stressed doctors at RAK Hospital, one of UAE’s premier provider of comprehensive healthcare. One of the most common reasons behind missed work, the health issue is now emerging in far younger ages than before, necessitating the need to address both preventive as well as corrective measures. Keeping this in view, and in response to the growing need, RAK Hospital has introduced an exclusive clinic for neck and back pain at the hospital premises in Ras Al Khaimah. As a CSR gesture, the hospital is also offering free consultation on Thursday, January 5, 2017, from 9am to 5pm. This will be followed by X-ray and a complimentary physiotherapy session to mitigate the pain. 

“While the causes behind neck and back pain vary, our sedentary lifestyle and poor posture are one of the biggest contributing factors,” said Dr Tinku Jose, Specialist, Neuro Surgeon at RAK Hospital, “Many of the patients that we treat belong to corporate sector, or have jobs that require them to work on computers. Long hours of sitting, coupled with the use of non-ergonomic furniture and an inactive lifestyle, the pain intensifies progressively. Unfortunately, people generally don’t pay much attention to degenerative spinal problems, resorting to self-medication such as balms, which provide temporary relief, but can lead to severe mobility issues later in life. This is why we are trying to encourage people to go undergo screening and find corrective measures for the neck and spine issues.

“We at RAK Hospital offer a wide variety of services for spine problems ranging from Nerve Blocks to Keyhole Surgeries to Spinal instrumentations and Rehabilitation,” added Dr Jose.

In the UAE, lower back and neck pain has remained the biggest health problem to cause disability from 2005 to 2015, while it is the top third reason for death and disability combined in the same period, according to Institution for Health Metrics and Evaluation. A recent newspaper report also highlighted the growing incidences of spinal and neck issues among children as young as 10 years old, known as ‘text neck’ – the term coined for neck and back pain caused by excessive use of computers and hand-held devices.  

Dr Raza Siddiqui, CEO, Arabian Healthcare Group and Executive Director, RAK Hospital said: “As always, we at RAK Hospital our trying to draw the UAE residents’ attention towards an important health issue, but one that often goes unaddressed. The fact is that neck and back pain is easily avoidable, and with a few corrective measures can be healed, so long as people give importance to the issue and take required medical assistance. We hope that the free assessment will help as many people across all ages as possible to live a life free of back and neck pain. This will be the first step towards an active healthier lifestyle, hopefully”.

RAK Hospital has been actively raising awareness on various health issues with the aim to create a disease- and illness-free UAE, and carries out successful campaigns on regular basis.