Worries about back/neck pain?

[Alliekat423]

Is anyone else concerned that their back and neck will start hurting in dental school and when practicing? I don't have any pains now, but I am really petite and not really muscularly supported, so I am worried that pain will eventually develop....or maybe will be bad right off the bat. What do you all think?

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[rals]

I think there's a thread about this in the dental forum. if you learn proper techniques and have good equipment, I think you will be fine. I wouldn't orry about it. it's a lot less physically taxing a career than many others.

 

[superchris147]

Is anyone else concerned that their back and neck will start hurting in dental school and when practicing? I don't have any pains now, but I am really petite and not really muscularly supported, so I am worried that pain will eventually develop....or maybe will be bad right off the bat. What do you all think?

when we first started learning to do preps in operative and fixed i noticed my neck started hurting after around 3 hours. i always wore loupes and i was quite worried about it. however, that has long since disappeared and i havn't noticed any discomfort since. you just have to let your body adjust and get stronger i guess. just focus on learning correct positioning techniques so you don't run into problems down the road. they teach you that stuff for a reason

 

[djeffreyt]

I have a similar worry, but i already have an upper back and neck pain from a pinched nerve in my neck. It shoots pain down to my elbow when my head and neck are in certain positions. There isn't much that I can do about it...physical therapy is pretty much the standard treatment, but pain management has pretty much allowed me to continue living and in my current job, I require manual dexterity with my left hand all the time, and it hasn't slowed me down really.

 

[armorshell]

Yeah, definitely concerned about preventing chronic neck/back/hand pain, especially since I'm 6'5"

Lucky for me my girlfriend is going to chiropractic school

 

[pine88]

I'm only 5'4"so I've got that going for me, but I worry about it too since my back hurts a lot already. I can't even sit in a hammock for long because it hurts my back. and after I surf it hurts just when I sit. but then when I'm a dentist I'll have enough money to hire a pilates trainer to work on those core muscles. I hate doing it by myself

 

[Lesley]

Is anyone else concerned that their back and neck will start hurting in dental school and when practicing? I don't have any pains now, but I am really petite and not really muscularly supported, so I am worried that pain will eventually develop....or maybe will be bad right off the bat. What do you all think?

I'm five feet and have herniated disc in my neck, I didn't have problems in dental school but experienced neck pain only after many years in practice, but it's never been a debilitating problem. I work, golf and garden. I found that when I decreased my office hours a couple of years ago, it made made a dramatic difference in the reduction of symptoms. If you do not have any existing problems, you should be fine. We all get older, and as people often joke, even get out of bed can be a pain sometimes. There are a lot of jobs that put more strain on a body than dentistry. As a dentist, you could choose to work full or part time depending on your needs or preference. Good Luck.

 

[drdion]

hi im an 1986 grad from tufts . I have been in practice for close to 21 years. Most of my colleagues have had neck or backproblems including surgery. It is definitely a problem. It can be avoided with proper positioning and working out regularly to build muscle in areas to compensate for poor positioning..Its a problem that should be addressed early in your career but you are young and can compensate. After a while it can take its toll..so get in shape

 

[cdmOMR]

Ive been an assistant for about 3 years and I (and my chiropractor) have definately noticed neck/back pain just because of the awkward position...legs forward, shoulders turned ~45*, and neck tilted. I'm hoping that I can get to the other side of the chair so I can start leaning to the right to compensate my 3-4 years of leaning to left .