A new national survey, the 2023 Voltaren Pain In Movement Study, revealed that 7 in 10 Australians (71.5%) enjoy movement or exercise as it makes them feel better physically, happier, stronger, and healthier, however, 63.9% have admitted to avoiding movement or exercise due to pain at some point.
To encourage all Australians to move Voltaren is launching V-League, endorsed by the National Basketball League (NBL). NBL legends, Dave Andersen and Adam Gibson have been recruited to captain each of the teams and are calling on Aussies to join them on court by entering a competition to take part in the first V-League face-off.
Inspired to better understand what types of pain are holding Australians back, the study identified that more than half of the time (53.2%) that Australians are in pain, they are experiencing back pain, with muscular pain representing a third of pain. This is impacting people’s daily life by preventing them from exercising (49.2%), stopping them from attending social events (13.7%) or even from spending time with family and friends (12.9%).
The data shows this trend of limiting movement is also continuing to be exacerbated for older Australians, with more than half of people (65.6%) stating that they are moving less as they get older, a habit which has been shown to increase the risk of pain and immobility over time.
Joseph Mehdawi, Voltaren ANZ Senior Marketing Lead said, Voltaren understands it’s not just about movement, it’s about providing Australians with a pain relief partner to rediscover the joy of movement.
“It is our passion for relieving pain that led us to undertake this new research, to really understand what is holding Australians back. We dug deeper into the sentiments of the Australian community around movement and pain and have noticed some alarming trends. Namely that niggling pain and discomfort is consistently holding us back from the things that bring us happiness.”