Movember – How basic exercise helped David Cummins with chronic back pain

As part of Men's Health Month, we’ve sat with Dr David Cummins, general practitioner, to talk about men’s health and how he has managed living with chronic back pain.

Why Men’s Health Month is important and why health and wellbeing in general is important

Every day should be important from a health point of view!

Eating well, engaging in physical activity that you enjoy and taking time for yourself - all of these things are like investing in your future.

We usually focus on financial security in modern society but there's no point having piles of money if you reach retirement age in poor health.

Struggling with chronic back pain and how I manage it

I struggled with chronic back pain for years. There were times when I thought I'd never be able to truly enjoy or partake in exercise again, but then I decided to go back to basics - walking!

I realised as the miles added up just how much benefit it was bringing me. It led me back to nature and hills and that's when the return to running slowly took shape.

How I take care of my health and wellbeing

Many of us work at desks. We sit for long periods every day perhaps not fully understanding just how damaging this is to our health.

I try to mitigate this by building physical activity into my day. I find active travel a great way of achieving this: walking, running or cycling to work, even part of the way.

Taking a 10-minute walk at lunch time also brings countless benefits and I couldn't recommend this highly enough!

From a dietary point of view, I try to maximise the number of plants I eat every week. I read a book in bed at night and find this a perfect way to end the day.

Why I’ve decided to speak out about this

It's perhaps normal in modern times to seek out a fancy cure for our ailments.

Often, simplicity is key: brisk walking, healthy foods, good sleep, fresh air and nature form the perfect building blocks for good long-term health in many cases.