To Fix Back Pain, You Might Have To Change The Way You Sit
npr.org
npr.org
Buy a firm or very firm innerspring mattress. This does not have to be expensive, I got mine at IKEA for $300. Sleep on it a couple nights to find out if it is too firm for your tastes. Adding a 2 inch thick memory foam mattress topper can cost about $60 and will take your firmness to about medium. 3 inches would get you a very soft feel and would cost $100.
Now you have a mattress that won't hardly ever wear out- you can replace the topper as it wears- and was a good value and is easily adjustable in firmness depending on your preference. I also added a waterproof mattress protector sheet, this is probably overkill.
I've been buying whole beds from one manufacturer (brooklynbedding.com & dreamfoambedding.com) to find that "sweet" spot for me. I'm on my second bed and things are getting better but this is wasteful and expensive. Of note, our bodies change over time, so what is comfortable during the summer (lots of exercise) might be different during the winter months - also changes that occur as we age. I think preventing weak muscles from developing around the spine might be beneficial.
Now I don’t. At all.
The difference is that I started lifting very heavy weights at least twice a week for about an hour each time. Like a standard strength training or bodybuilding approach. I’m not actually particularly jacked up, that’s a pretty laid back pace.
My issues with back pain are now just completely gone. If I have to take more than about 10 days off they slowly creep back. But a day of deadlifts and shoulders and so on fixes that.
It’s not science, I have a sample size of one. But it sure seems to make a positive difference.
As anyone whose done squats near their max can tell you, it's far from effortless, but over time a few co-workers have joined me and they've had similar benefits.
For anyone looking to get started, I'd actually recommend Starting Strength (by Mark RippleToe)over Strong Lifts, but really any of the common programs (Ice Cream Fitness, GreySkull, etc) are good.
I've been thinking about doing this and was wondering how people get started. Did you hire a trainer? I'm very worried about injury and, as I understand it, a big part of staying injury free comes down to good form. I think I would benefit a great deal from having a trainer to get started. Did you?
As you go along, you will develop your own ideas and know what works for you, so you can modify the program to suit your own needs.
What you can do also depend on what equipment you have easy access to. Harder/longer it is to get to the place of workout, harder it is to get into habit of working out.
Most good gyms will have some people on staff that can help you with questions about good form. If you are unsure about good form, ask someone that works at the gym if they can come give you a look over and give some pointers.
Also, there is a reason there are mirrors all over in the gyms; it's so you can watch yourself to make sure you have good form.
One last pointer; start light. Lifting too heavy will lead to bad form and injuries. A classic example is curls; people lifting too heavy on curls will throw their back a bit on the lift and injure their back. So start light, watch your form, and slowly add those weights.
> Trainers can be quite expensive
I'm maybe a little embarrassed to admit this, but paying for a trainer will help me commit. If I'm paying for an hour of time on Thursday morning, I'm more likely to show up.
If you have a good trainer that can help with the commitment issue. If you have a bad trainer it can make it worse. I've had both. I had one trainer that wouldn't listen to me and just always pushed to hard; then during a session I puked from over exertion. I was so angry and embarrassed I didn't go back to the gym for over 3 months.
Anyway the point there is if you are going to get a trainer then vet them before you sign an agreement.
A couple of other options to help with commitment is to join a fitness group or a class like Farrell's (https://extremebodyshaping.com/).
Some of these have support/accountability groups so if you no show someone is going to call and ask where you were and in return you do the same thing
Starting with low weights and working on form for the first week or two while video'ing yourself and comparing yourself to instructional videos will allow for self critique.
I personally never had a trainer, but have had good success with self critiquing.
I don't know what's "ideal" but I can tell you what I did. I joined a regular gym, and a crossfit gym near my office at the same time. Was feasible to do since both had great intro specials.
Crossfit gets a bad rep in some parts of the internet but the owner was an experienced olympic weightlifter and knew what he was doing. I went 3 days a week for the first three months religiously, and asked a lot of questions about how to lift with proper form and all that.
In retrospect I probably didn't actually need to do that, but it took away a lot of anxiety. As a guy in his 40's I knew I didn't know what I was doing, and of course all sorts of strange and unfamiliar aches and pains and soreness came along at first and having someone experienced helping me made me feel confident that those were normal.
After the three month trial was up I let the crossfit thing lapse and started Stronglifts 5x5. They have a great app and set of videos that just tell you exactly what to do, it's great for beginners. The linear progression they use should keep you busy for a year or so before you start to feel like you need something new.
After a year or two I got a personal trainer, but it was mostly just for efficiency because I got really busy. I get a lot more into a single hour than I used to. He helps get things set up and so on and pushes me. One thing that I did do was tell him I just wanted to lift weights so I wouldn't waste time on random exercises. You have to manage a personal trainer like anyone else, and if you don't like things they have you do then don't do them, manage your own program too.
Hope that helps.
For the foreseeable future, I've decided to avoid low-bar squats because they use my lower back too much. I've switched to high-bar, which allows me to keep my hip and spine stacked in much the way talked about in the article. I've also made a point to lower the lifting intensity when I increase the intensity of my other activities (grappling). Pushing hard with heavy weights and then making hard demands in other activities can cause problems as well.
This article is full of outdated value-laden and fear-inducing language such as "spine is in an improper position", "should sit better", "stressing their backs", "think of a disk as a jelly... jelly can squirt out", "bend over properly". This sort of language has been demonstrated repeatedly to encourage avoidance behaviours and exacerbate problems.
Of course, a dog has four legs, and some things with four legs are indeed dogs. Biomechanics are a part of the picture, but only part.
Here's a great summary of the problem: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...
There was another thing in the book that has really helped me over the years and it's called the shoulder roll. The way to do it is to roll your shoulders in counter clockwise motion and leave it when they move back. It really does help while sitting.
That book was full of such things like hip hinging, walking properly, etc and pictures incidentally also of Indian men who do hard labor much like the loom guy in the article.
Here is a relevant video from her: https://youtu.be/k1luKAS_Xcg
One is yoga, and in particular the "cobra pose", to flex your back in the opposite direction. You can do it several times a day, also at work.
The other is to increase awareness of your posture. Download a time-lapse video app for your phone, and make a time-lapse movie of yourself sitting at your desk during a day. You can show this movie to a therapist, so they can comment on it.
Bikram yoga is my poison of choice BTW. I found that really easy for a starter.
1) You mention your shoulders being outstretched and flexed when you work, that's a good place to start. When I work at a desk, I try to maintain a posture that keeps my arms parallel with my body until the elbow where my forearms then extend at a 90 degree angle or so. When I think of someone with their arms outstretched, it's hard for me to not imagine you're also leaning forward at least a bit which also puts stress on your neck. Aside from changing desks, you might want to look into an under-desk keyboard/mouse drawer/shelf to lower and extend those things to you in the correct position. You shouldn't be stretching to work at a computer.
2) Headphones. For me, hours wearing big over ear headphones can leave my neck and shoulders sore even when sitting with perfect posture. Consider using earbuds when you work.
3) Your bed. Most neck and back problems start in the bed, whether it's having a pillow that's not properly supportive or has dust mites, not turning your mattress often enough, sleeping on an old lumpy mattress or just sleeping in the wrong position. These things can all contribute to neck and back pain. Don't rule out the possibility that multiple factors could be contributing to your pain.
4) Light exercise with stretching/yoga. Can help eliminate lactic acid from your muscles contributing to the soreness.
5) Diet. This one's sort of on the low end of potential fixes but having too many foods that increase uric acid levels (alcohol, meat, dairy, fried foods, soda, etc...) could lead to joint stiffness in general or increased difficulty for your system in breaking down other acids that lend themselves to soreness like lactic acid.
Also hadn't considered headphones before. The ones I have are over ear and now that you mention it are pretty heavy. Easy switch.
Doing this routine for about a month fixed problems that had persisted through years of massage therapy, posture exercises, ergonomic chairs, etc.
Then there's a photo of the Indian weaver they mention with the caption "No special chair required" (compared with the kneeling chair the author had bought, I guess). But the weaver is sitting on a low, (backless) bench! I've never seen an office/computer worker sitting like that.
So it's all about how you sit, but never that sitting in chairs might be (part of) the problem?
At least the last few paragraphs included the summary: "[it's good when you are] sticking your butt back and creating this little curve at the lower part of your spine"
Edit: After looking at the picture from the article, it is obvious that the man has his legs spread wide, and this position is much more comfortable. I also lowered my chair to bring my elbows back to desk level.
The reality for most people is that nearly all of these things can affect their back pain. Once again, an article attempts to reduce a multivariate model to a univariate model, reducing many variables to one is simpler but not more true, just easier to dispense in a news post.
• Toe-touch stretch to stretch lower back • Kneeling hip flexor stretch • Glute bridges (I don't do these enough) • Crunches (the "right" kind where you don't go all the way up) • Rows and deadlifts to keep shoulders back • Wallsits at work with hips tucked in • Planches at work to help straighten out core
I still get pain once every few months.
still not doing the right thing
you need to strengthen the lumbar muscles, eg with a specific weight machine (see Kieser Training, MedX) or other programme that can do that
You need to combine with either strength training, movement and stretching, or adjust the way you are sitting to feel longer term relief.