[SadTrombone]

As someone with back pain, what were the lifestyle changes?

[le-mark]

I’ve been on a year plus journey with this. My back pain was lower back and every few months I’d “throw out” some part around my shoulder blades and be flat in my back for a day or two. It got pretty bad.

I went to physical therapy for two months because that’s all insurance would pay for. My spine was weak and lacked stability. They had me doing stretches for back mobility and core strengthening. I continued that when insurance ran out and added in a lot of walking and other light weights and calisthenics.

It’s been a long journey and I’m only half way to where I was. The worst part is I did it to myself by becoming sedentary for to many years.

[j_bum]

Best of luck for your continued recovery. Keep at it.

I can’t tell you to do this because I don’t know your medical history, but slowly working your way up to medium weight training can also be a game changer. Re: squats, Romanian deadlifts, pull ups, dead hangs.

[kulahan]

Upper back and neck pain for me. Went to a Phys. Therapist and got a set of exercises. It was largely muscle weakness from bad posture - something many, many people will likely suffer in the coming years thanks to staring at screens on handhelds.

Mine was because I have the posture of a lump of VERY wet clay.

Also, losing weight helped a lot - less to carry around and hold in the right places.

[eurekin]

Prolonged sitting deconditions the gluteal muscles, and other muscles often compensate, which can overload them and alter hip/pelvic control. When tissues are strained, the body initiates repair via inflammation—a normal phase of healing. Routine NSAID use can blunt aspects of musculoskeletal healing in some contexts, so it’s worth using judiciously and with clinical guidance. With reduced movement, fascia can lose glide and become stiffer, limiting mobility. Over years, chronic abnormal loading may contribute to osteophytes (joint margins) or enthesophytes (at tendon/ligament insertions). Targeted strengthening, mobility work, and load management from a PT typically help.

[Cthulhu_]

What do you mean "in the coming years"? Smartphones have been mainstream for ~15 years now, daily long term computer usage for decades.

[ZeroGravitas]

I recommend McGill's Back Mechanic book, which is an end-user focused distillation of his academic work.

It suggests simple tests to discover exactly where your pain is coming from and then appropriate exercises to mechanically strengthen the right area and a few workarounds to avoid stressing that area in regular life e.g. alternate ways to pick up light items from the floor.

McGillcs big three are three simple exercises that are generally good for those with no patience for ordering a book and intros to them can be found all over YouTube.

[daydream]

Doing heavy barbell squats and deadlifts worked wonders for me. Three sets of five (with appropriate warmup of course).

Eliminated my back pain and led to a bunch of other non obvious life improvements.

[vasco]

There's no need to do them heavy for health purposes. The problem with most back pain is people do nothing. Capping them at around 100kg is probably more than enough and will also prevent other injuries.

[freedomben]

Similar, though I would also add shrugs or reverse flies to get those traps. If I let my traps get weak I get a lot of pain in that region, especially after long periods of sitting

[busymom0]

Deadlifts if done right also helps tremendously with improving posture.

[warrenmiller]

goblin squats helped my persistent lower back pain almost immediately.

[delichon]

Daily whole body motion, for me usually in the form of yard work. I am driven to it by the threat of torture, but it works.

[sarchertech]

2 kids under 4 (and another due next month) fixed my back pain. Turns out that constantly picking up babies and toddlers is the exact amount of exercise my back needed.

[SkyPuncher]

Oddly enough, basically strengthening your stomach/core.

[astura]

Not GP but my husband suffered from absolutely debilitating back pain that limited his activities drastically. He went to PT. The fix was consistent exercise and stretching. The cause was muscle weakness and imbalance. He has to maintain it, otherwise the pain starts again.

[1shooner]

Aside from resolving the cause, I had to use a foam wedge knee bolster to stabilize me while I slept for an unrelated injury, and I was amazed how much that almost immediately also reduced my lumbar pain.

[__turbobrew__]

Swimming 100%. I was injured far enough I had problems even with walking and load bearing activities, but I was able to swim which enabled my recovery.

[maccard]

Lower or upper?

Lower: lose weight, get moving, strengthen hips, glutes and calves.

Upper: lose weight, get moving, strengthen chest, lats, core

[matt_heimer]

Core should be included in lower as well.

[busymom0]

For upper, I'd highly recommend adding rear delt flys and face pulls at twice the frequency of any chest or shoulder workouts. Most people have overdeveloped front delts and underdeveloped rear delts and that can cause severe imbalances.

[freedomben]

Also for upper (especially if you get neck pain or upper back pain between shoulder blades): Traps (shrugs, reverse fly, and/or face pulls are my preference)

[teaearlgraycold]

I recommend L pull ups as a general back saver.

[rcpt]

Reading Dr Sarnos book "Healing Back Pain" was an off switch for me.

[vhcr]

Swimming and Jefferson curls.

[cmoski]

Swimming and weights.

[sebasvisser]

Simply walk.

Walk every morning. Walk every hour (unless sleeping). Walk uphill every day (see documentary on Blue Zones).

But for now: just focus on resisting the urge to tell me why it can’t be done… Like Nike’s slogan: “Just do it”

Good luck, it’s though, and painful but it gets better.

[astura]

If you can, walking is great for prevention.

With my husband (and probably most people who already already suffering with pain) the pain was too much to walk, and walking was very much counterproductive, so this is bad advise, especially the l "focus on resisting the urge to tell me why it can’t be done" part. It's not the type of pain that you can just power through. He said the pain caused his legs to physically stop working. He had to do PT exercises first and build up to walking.

[nerdsniper]

Rear delt flys.