Checking to see if a SQL server database is being backed up

Question

Must be a common issue....I have a service that monitors the health of various applications by doing SQL calls, but I dont want the service to do SQL calles when the database is being backed up or restored.....Apart from something crude like exec'ing sp_who2 and cycling through the resultset, is there a cleaner way?  I cant find a property within .net that achieves this.
Cheers and thanks to a great site...
Paul