History of BackCare

Stanley Grundy, a businessman closely associated with the brewing industry, founded the charity, registered as the National Back Pain Association. During a sailing race in 1967 Stanley experienced back pain and for the rest of the season suffered from severe backache causing great discomfort when driving for any length of time, in bed and in his day-to-day activities. “I began to realise that very little seemed to be known about the treatment of back pain. There was no research centre for backs, and as far as I knew there was no research of any importance being carried out either in this country or elsewhere in the world and the medical profession knew almost nothing about the real cause of back problems” said Mr Grundy.

The Back Pain Research Association was formed in August 1968 and registered as a medical charity. Initially progress was very slow and treatment for back problems in the medical field was shared between so many disciplines. In the early days the charity focused much of its efforts on persuading the various professions involved with the treatment of back pain to work together. This principle of a multi-disciplinary approach toward the treatment and management of back pain for which the charity lobbied was enshrined in the Clinical Standards Advisory Group (CSAG) report by the Department of Health in 1992.

Furthermore, it became apparent that apart from research into the causes of back pain, a need existed for educating the general public in the ways of preventing and alleviating back pain.

In 1976 a network of branches was started in Richmond. The aim of the group was to provide a support network for people living with chronic back pain at a local level. By 1984 the branch network had grown to 20 groups all run by volunteers.

From its strong foundations, the charity has evolved and developed to meet the needs of a very diverse group of people and strives to ensure that people are well educated and informed about the issues surrounding back pain. BackCare has achieved significant successes in the key areas of research, information, education and the development of support services for people living with back pain.

Obituary of Stanley Grundy  died on 7th March 2006