Caring for Carers - Who Takes Care Of YOU?

Dr. Edmund Bruce-Gardner

Obviously, as osteopaths, we help to treat and manage those who have undergone serious injury, surgery or disability; and try to help them live a life as close to that as prior to their issue as possible.
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But sometimes overlooked are the carers for these individuals. 

​A carer is defined as someone who “provides unpaid personal care, support and assistance to another individual who needs it because that other individual... …has a disability; [or] a medical condition (including a terminal or chronic illness); [or] has a mental illness; [or] is frail and aged” (1)

​Research from Carers Australia indicates that in 2015 there were around 2.7 million unpaid carers in Australia; and, if we are not one ourselves, we know one. Someone living with mum to lend a hand, those with disabled (one way or another) friends or relatives.(2)

Carers have a pretty tough time. That is not to downplay the difficulties experienced by those for whom they care; but in a way that can be part of the issue. Carers may feel guilt and/or resentment for wanting to attend to their own wants and needs, and often find that the physical and emotional exhaustion catches up with them. 

This may manifest in feelings of malaise (generally feeling a bit unwell, but nothing specific) and tiredness; or more specific aches and pains, depending on the nature of the care given.

​Even in itself, the high stress often engendered by a caring role can impact on health, especially combined with the loss of normal coping mechanisms, such as normal family relationships and friendships, hobbies, and other things you “don’t have time for any more”.

​Consequences of these factors may include increased heart rate/pressure, insomnia, breathing problems, higher levels of arthritis than the general population, long-term back problems (more on this in a bit), diabetes, mobility problems, and even heart disease, chronic fatigue and/or mental health issues (3)

​This last one is especially problematic.  According to a survey carried out by Carer’s UK, 54% of respondents indicated they had suffered depression as a result of caring (4); they also felt more anxious (77%) and more stressed (83%) because of their caring role. While a self-reported survey is hardly rigorous research, it is a concerning result. 

The GP Patient Survey (2015) reported that 63% of all carers said they had suffered physical ill health as a result. Looking at carers who cared for 50 hours a week or more, the number with a long-standing health condition rose to 70% (compared to 51% for non-carers) (ibid).  

So caring for others takes its toll, physical and mental/emotional.  To make sure we can best care for our loved ones, we need to make sure we take care of ourselves, too!

Physical issues resulting from caring

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most common problem carers suffer from is back pain, often caused by improper lifting of the cared-for individual. This is closely followed by neck and shoulder/arm problems.

Of course, the exact nature of your caring-related problems will depend on what you have to do to help support your friend or family member. 

 Taking over the cleaning for an elderly relative whose knees or hips won’t let them scrub floors any more will tend to stress certain parts of the body; while dealing with  the partially- or 

fully disabled might cause problems from the already-mentioned lifting, or from pushing a wheelchair around (not to mention loading/unloading it in the car, wrangling it up steps etc). 

​These could be anywhere from head to toe.

This is part of the issue with caring; it can involve doing anything, and often these are activities they have physical difficulty performing. The trouble is, when you add them all to your existing day-to-day workload, they can end up causing issues. Even though individually each task may not be that onerous, they soon may feel like it!

​The sheer stress and pressure of caring can cause us to hold a lot of tension in our upper back and neck, which may be associated with tension-type headaches.

While the nature of care provided will be unique to the individuals concerned, there are some things that will often hold true. 

​If we can help you stretch and mobilise the areas of your body that are not moving as well as they should; strengthen the supporting musculature; and teach you some strategies to help manage the physical stresses of caring; we can help support you through these trying times. 

​Book an appointment with your osteopath today to have a full assessment of how your body is trying to cope with the demands you place on it, and how that can be as efficient as possible.

REFERENCES

(1) Carer Recognition Act 2010 (Part 1, Section 5)   https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2010A00123/Html/Text#_Toc276377310

(2) ​Australian Bureau of Statistics (2015) Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers

​(3) NHS England GP Patient Survey 2015

(4) Carers UK (2015) State of Caring 2015