About a million people in Finland suffer from back problems every year. The good news is that you can do a lot to prevent back trouble, both at work and at home.

Back problems should be taken seriously. But all too often, we only think of the part of the body we never see when we're already crouching in agony. As the back comprises interconnecting nerves, bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons, there are several potential sources of back pain.

Sometimes contemporary medical technology appears to have been warped in directly from the pages of a science fiction novel. One of the most impressive branches of 21st century expertise is that of laser eye surgery.

Laser Assisted In-situ Keratomileusis, or LASIK, is the eye surgery technique most often used today. A Spanish opthamologist, José Barraquer, developed a procedure he named keratomileusis, involving cutting flaps in the cornea and altering its shape. The first trial of lasers to perform a keratectomy was performed in 1991, and millions of people worldwide have undergone the procedure since then, 900,000 annually in the US alone.