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I’m literally scrolling my phone while side stretching because my back hurts just from a4 hour sitting shift rooofl 💀
I started doing pilates a few tears ago. I hate it, but really, 15 minutes a week make a huge difference for my back. All it takes is a yoga mat and some pilates instructor lady on YouTube. Curtains is recommended since even if you get good at it you’re gonna look ridiculous.
me
Lol, at 46 my heart said ‘nah man, let’s just stop’. 🤷
If I ever actually have a heart attack, I’m not sure if I would think it’s a heart attack or a panic attack simply because the first time I ever had a debilitating panic attack, it felt like the way everyone I’ve known to have a heart attack described them (hard to breath, intense chest pains, left srm went numb, etc) and called an ambulance just to find out it was anxiety.
If I sit on the couch playing vidya games for 2 hours, my back hurts for 2 days.
The gamer in me says to set a timer and stop playing at 1:59.
Am or Pm?
Better ergs? More pillows? Shorter sessions?
I’m 28 and I feel ancient. I wish I could start over in life, but I can’t. I wasted my teens/20s and now, right when the long painful shitty grind until death is about to start, I still don’t have shit, have accomplished nothing, never traveled or dated or moved out or got a degree or hit any of the typical milestones and am an unlikeable, crazy, unemployable pathetic loser everyone’s forgotten about. Being born as this specific idiot person that I am is the worst thing that has ever happened to me.
I have stuff, a job, kids, a wife, and all that and i’m still a miserable loser. Enjoying life is a thing you have to chose to do in spite of your circumstances, rather than because of them.
For further reference, see Elon Musk: the dude literally has it all and i catch myself genuinely feeling sorry for how pathetic he is from time to time, that man couldn’t enjoy life even if he had literally everything
Dude has an unlimited supply of ketamine. He probably is actually enjoying life most of the time, unfortunately.
The arches of our feet stretch unevenly as we age. For some people, this causes one foot to pronate more than the other, which leads to a functional leg length discrepancy, which causes a knee to turn in, the hips to tilt, the spine to develop a functional scoliosis, one shoulder to drop, causing neck pain, etc. It’s called the kinetic chain, and unfortunately it’s been hovered up as a chiropractic talking point. But it can often be corrected with custom shoe inserts that can also help with balance. On the flip side, you then become reliant on those things and your back is weaker without em. So ya know, nothing’s simple, I guess.
Other comments mentioned squats and deadlifts but the upper back is important too. Pullups and especially dead hangs are great for countering the effects of sitting at a desk.
Once you get your grip strength up you can hang and just let your spine decompress. It feels great. You can also do the opposite and keep your core engaged (AKA hollow hold) to build strength.
I played sports growing up but never had a strong core until I did this in my 30s. It was kind of shocking because I could suddenly do things like V ups with ease which used to make me shake uncontrollably.
I like the shaking aspect, usually a sign you pushed far beyond your limits and your body is going “wtf”.
Strength training helps, a lot.
and stretching. Gotta’ stretch, especially if you’re like me and aren’t naturally very flexible. I’ve probably avoided dozens of injuries just by knowing my limits well and making sure they don’t show up pitifully fast.
I wouldn’t say there aren’t people who are naturally more flexible than average but all the people who are VERY flexible worked for it. The processes that improve your ligaments and muscles in that way require repetition and dedication like any other self improvement.
100%
The reason that bowflex dude was 42 and in the best shape of his life was because at 42 it was the first time he needed to be.
Shit, Anthony Bourdain had six-pack abs at age 61. You’re never too old to stop whining about life and start moving some weights around and stop eating so much shitty food.
I’m personally convinced that the cause of back problems is sitting way to much.
Weighing way too goddam much is also a cause of back (and knee) problems.
This is why I never sit down. Not even to poop. I just stand above the toilet, and hope it goes in.
Sometimes it does!
Made me lol at the last sentence.
That’s one aspect of it but the main cause is weakness of the lower back muscles. This is in the case of office workers, if you have a manual job the causes could be many. But all of the causes can be addressed to a certain degree with deadlifts to strengthen to lower back muscles. But people don’t want to lift weights so 🤷🏽♂️
There are plenty of body weight exercises like squats and lunges that can strengthen the back. I think more than weights, people simply don’t like to do targeted exercises.
I very much want to
Running also strengthens the back
Truth.
I do what I call the morning dump before runs now, squats + good mornings and then a 5k, my sore back is because I made it sore and it’s a good sore.
Big if true, I just started running again this year. Ran a fair bit almost a decade ago, still have back pain though.
Sure, you can’t run 5k without good posture. Can’t hold good posture without some core strength
squat and deadlift are key to success. Really, anything that develops your posterior chain is a healthy bet
Nah, not those alone. Developing only one side of a movement can cause serious health problems. Like how people that get only their calves really strong are prone to getting pulled tibia muscles doing sports because those muscles cannot keep up and fatigue out quickly. I can only imagine how terrible it would be to only have a strong back if you end up doing the wrong movement some day.
Sorry I meant in context to keeping a strong trunk and a happy lower back. Of course you’d want a good balance of exercises to support even muscle development
Squats, deadlifts and good mornings are the key to a back you made sore and strong instead of a hurt back,
I’d say stretching and familiarizing yourself with what the edge of acceptable motion is goes A LOT further with not hurting yourself. You can deadlift all you want, but if you don’t know how to deal with shifting weight or an odd position once you start doing some generic activity that doesn’t mirror the lift, you’re still going to hurt yourself.
In fact, overconfidance with being able to lift a heavy amount vs dealing with shifting forces can be the reason someone tries to move too much weight in the first place. Think lifting a solid, easily grippable mass of a steel bar vs moving a heavy-ass wobbly mattress. The mattress might be a fraction of the weight but it’s still a pain in the ass. Don’t know how to deal with weight suddenly shifting? That’s a pulled back anyways.
I assumed, obviously incorrectly because this is the internet and I’m always correctable, that it would be understood I wasn’t saying “hurting yourself by exercising incorrectly” when advocating for strength training.
It’s not just load back. People have to strengthen their core, chest, and upper back.
All those muscles work together to help with good posture.
Can’t it be addressed with any regular, properly practiced sport, which many people don’t do over 30? Lifting seems like effort without the fun of a game.
It is certainly 1000 times better than doing nothing, but even athletes lift weights to complement their training because there’s nothing quite like targeting the muscles directly. But like others have commented running is also good for strengthening the back, so any sports where there’s a lot of running like soccer, football or basketball will help.
Weightlifting can be a game itself though, at least for me it is. The game is attempting to best my previous numbers every session. Very much a single player game but a game nonetheless.
Lifting is an RPG
That’s why I have a character sheet with all my stats.
Seriously depends. If someone is out of shape, starting with a game can be both disheartening when you physically cannot compete and make you far more likely to injure yourself when you’re not paying full attention to what your body is doing.
Going from out of shape (and most nonphysical people are out of shape nearly completely) to in shape is a treacherous path that should not be taken lightly.
Not to say sports are a bad idea, but they aren’t a silver bullet.
My dad and brother had back problems and they were brick layers and then janitors. Only sat at breaktime.
Repeated motion injuries can happen even in very fit people. The body needs time to heal even from low impact/low stress movement. Especially if it’s at the edge of what’s “easy”.
A good example is a food server. Even if you can handle the weight of a fully loaded tray easy enough, unless that weight is like throwing a nurf ball around for you, you’re going to need a healing period after a long shift. Most likely longer than any asshole shift manager would ever allow if you’re a small pretty gal.
yeah. I brought it up mostly to contrast the its from sitting thing. Lots of folks in physical trades had back problems. It was a trope really. Working class dads with back going out and corpo dads with heart attacks.
Adults don’t know how to bend and squat properly. Watch people and you’ll see that practically everybody bends at their back anytime they’re reaching down.
I still do if the weight in less than around 100lbs, but that’s only because I’ve strengthened my back to the point where 100lbs is no big deal even in weird positions, and bending at the waist is sometimes way easier.
If you’re someone who knows how to lift at the waist you’re probably still keeping your back straight, like you would in a Romanian deadlift.
In my case, it’s the combo of way, way to much walking in work boots and then later doing a lot of sitting. gotta shorten up those hip flexor, bae
I’ve been suffering from severe sciatica for 6 months now. I am 33. I am in shape, exercise every day including running, yoga, and lifting. Gunna get steroid shots to hopefully help me break the cycle.
Got sciatica a few years ago, it was sudden and excruciating. Luckily it went away by itself, and so far it hasn’t come back.
I couldn’t even lift my foot 10cm
Are you doing deloaded weeks to help with recovery?
Yoga and strength training help quite a bit, but I always found the biggest help was to sleep well. I found sleeping in a hammock basically got rid of any lower back pain, but I’m sure a good bed will help as well.
Yoga helps 👍
Stretching in general helps, it doesn’t even have to be yoga. Though a good yoga routine makes it easier to hit most of the major areas.
Agreed, I just wanted to mention the yoga 😁
Muscle strength-focused workout. This is the way. Sitting all day is the death of your spine. Work out with weights, stronger muscles will save you
Air squats. Do them.
I can’t because I’m past 40
At least for flexibility and balance. They’re a nothing burger for strength, but strength can only come after your body can actually move without hurting itself.
