“Posture problems are often underestimated, but their failure to identify them can have consequences over time and can also produce more serious ailments, which are sometimes even difficult to live with. These are imbalances that affect a large part of the population, so much so that they have significant repercussions on public health”. Thus the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci in his speech at the conference ‘Improving posture for more sustainable health’, which took place this afternoon in the Sala Zuccari of Palazzo Giustiniani, promoted on the initiative of FdI senator Marco Silvestroni.
“Among the most common consequences of postural decompensation – continues the minister – there is low back pain, which affects up to 50% of adults of working age, of which about 20% seek medical treatment. All of this takes place in a social context that has seen sedentary lifestyle grow exponentially and this also depends on working methods, with often inadequate workstations and incorrect postural habits”.
The data, according to Schillaci, “indicate that we are dealing with a public health issue, not just an individual one – he reiterates – with considerable costs, and not just economic ones for our National Health Service. There is still a broad debate on both scientific and medical postural disorders: the Ministry of Health had developed national guidelines on the classification, classification, measurement of posture and related dysfunctions to encourage multidisciplinary prevention interventions. It is a document created to provide unambiguous, shared information based on available scientific evidence aimed at the various health professionals involved in prevention and diagnosis”. A commitment that “the Ministry of Health has undertaken and that today I believe we should try to continue with a further effort to update the indications on good practices based on the most current scientific data, on the opinions shared by experts and with particular attention to possible treatments”.
“Promoting the culture of prevention and the growth of a health culture is the first step, as I have been saying for some time, in defending public health – remarked Schillaci – and aiming for a general improvement in the quality of life, fighting the onset of many pathologies and the development of complications due to these pathologies. The commitment we are carrying out to promote physical activity goes in this same direction in which the support of the doctor is always important to better guide the choice of the most appropriate activity for each person”.
Prevention “is the key to health protection and it is essential to encourage the adoption of healthy lifestyles starting with proper nutrition and the fight against a sedentary lifestyle”. Postural health “is another fundamental element and on this front the commitment of the scientific and medical communities plays a key role – he concludes – in researching and testing the best solutions in the field, putting them into practice and providing feedback on their effectiveness” . He then ensured “due attention to the proposals studied by the experts that will emerge from the debate, to enhance together the best experiences in this field”.