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.
I mean this in all positivity. Move around and lose weight if you’re sporting it. I’m over 40 and I’m in better shape than I was in my 20s because I move around a lot (owning a farm helps) but it’s no excuse to not move if you don’t. Stop being sedentary. Move and eat less. You will be surprised how little it takes to feel good again.
I eat twice a day, I never stop moving.
I would say I’m doing better than most people at 40 if I hadn’t smoked since I was 10.
I have something wrong with some nerves in my back though. Shit tingles to an annoying level if I carry my kids around.
OK well my counter story is that I move a lot for work too and I’m only slightly overweight but my upper back feels like it’s going to break in half when I wake up in the mornings, and my lower back tingles like a 9 volt battery to the tongue just always. 32 yo.
I guess just do whatever and maybe your back will feel fine and maybe it won’t. Just like all health advice.
My cousin did construction work for a number of years and it wore this body out. He had to retire in his 40s.
You might need a better mattress if that’s how you wake up like that. Especially if it gets better during the day.
Also quit smoking, vaping, anything with nicotine, which causes your discs to degrade faster.
I have degenerative disc disease at 42, I’m looking at multiple fusions.
I was there at 16
Can check this out at the olympics. Sports that require flexibility like gymnastics and you have essentially kids. Sports around muscle like weight lifting and you get much older and ones that revolve around target shooting and you can get much older folk winning.
Yoga helps 👍
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Agreed, I just wanted to mention the yoga 😁
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Air squats. Do them.
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I can’t because I’m past 40
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.
Stop at 1:59 and let stamina quickly recover before continuing. OP obviously not a real gamer.
Am or Pm?
Hopefully PM because also gamer me has no gd idea how to stop gaming at 1:59 am even if I have work in the morning.
Better ergs? More pillows? Shorter sessions?
need a cat with a nervous bladder you have to take to the litter box to interrupt your sitting sessions
Awwdly specific
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.
I got sciatica at 37. I exercised regularly, running, yoga, lifting… What fixed it? Regular walking. Yep. Just an hour of walking around fixed the issue yoga and weight lifting couldn’t.
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
Pinched nerve?
I guess
Are you doing deloaded weeks to help with recovery?
Rn I pretty much only walk for exercise, plus the PT exercises focused on strengthening supporting muscles and providing spine extension.
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.
Same thing happened to me recently. Super fun loop.
- Have panic attack
- Symptoms mimic heart attack
- Panic more
- Mimics heart attack harder
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 until EKG, X-ray, and blood test come back clear, and doc gives benzos.
At least now I know it’s a panic attack so it doesn’t feed itself as aggressively.
It’s easy to miss but I didn’t say heart attack. My heart stopped beating and I stopped breathing. Never experienced any of the typical symptoms, non smoker and drinker. I literally dropped dead and was lucky that everything afterwards went well (aside from the trauma inducing situation of course).
The cause is unknown to this day.
It’s not so much that your spine is old at 30. it’s more that our body is not really adjusted to our fucking modern lifestyle. and also it seems to me, a lot of backpain is psychological. i.e., anxiety and stuff leads to lower back pain and such.
I’m personally convinced that the cause of back problems is sitting way to much.
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
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
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.
Dude, I picked up biking last season and on Monday I biked a new personal best of 12 very hilly miles without a rest. I decided literally the night before to join a local 4th of July 5k without any training (literally said “I can bike 12 miles, what’s running 3? Those are similar enough muscles!” and I’ve been riding the high since because my leg muscles are still all sore and tight in all of the wonderful “I pushed my limits and achieved something!” kind of ways that make me feel so alive!
squat and deadlift are key to success. Really, anything that develops your posterior chain is a healthy bet
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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,
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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.
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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.
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!
Do you have a poop fork next to the poop knife to help pick them up?
Made me lol at the last sentence.
My dad and brother had back problems and they were brick layers and then janitors. Only sat at breaktime.
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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.
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
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.
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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.
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The human body wasn’t designed to sit all day. We’re walkers. Best to appreciate a job that keeps you moving. Haven’t had back problems since I started doing manual labor. Before that, there were days I couldn’t tie my shoes.
Also bending your back for a job hours on end does more damage
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Not quite there yet. I’m thin and pretty active. But I take a lot of beatings and my bones just…fucking ache.
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.
I hope the tears stop eventually ✊
this is only true if you dont do anything with your life but just sit down in one spot all day and all night. im 38 and i feel find inside and out.
