Back Pain

The following thoughts apply to back pain, especially lower back pain. It is typically caused by wrong / bad posture, overuse and weak muscles.

Avoid spine (fusion) surgery at all costs. Often it makes things worse. If it helps, it does not help for long.

Avoid yoga and any other actions that rotate, twist or otherwise deviate from a straight spine.

First thing to do, read Stuart McGill’s book "Back Mechanic". It can be bought at https://www.amazon.com/Back-Mechanic-Stuart-McGill-2015-09-30/dp/B01FKSGJYC/.

Do McGill’s Big 3 exercises daily:

These exercises will strengthen the core muscles and stabilize the spine. There are plenty of videos available that demonstrate those exercises, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj_RvcrMd8w.

In addition to those, consider buying a Bodyblade (https://www.amazon.com/Bodyblade-50864-Classic-Kit/dp/B0065PTC80/) and use it daily for a few minutes. It will also strengthen the core muscles.

Strengthening the muscles is one part of the solution. The other part is correcting your posture. McGill makes the point to keep the spine straight, extensively use hip hinges when picking things up, etc.

Check out the Gokhale method (https://gokhalemethod.com/). Esther Gokhale says to go back to primal posture and with every posture (standing, sitting, sleeping, etc.) it is essential to make sure your spine is properly stacked above your hip and feet. If you have a desk job, consider buying her pain free chair (https://shop.gokhalemethod.com/products/gokhale-pain-free-chair). The chair helps with lengthening the spine but otherwise looks very basic. Her thoughts are that things like arm rests and head rest prevent you from getting into good sitting posture.

Furthermore, add daily walks (as long as possible) into your routine, best in the morning to get plenty of sunshine after waking up. Add small exercises that challenge many muscles in your body. For example, balancing on one leg with eyes closed for a minute.

In the video The REAL Reason You Have Back Pain (we were lied to), it is argued that while McGill’s Big 3 exercises stabilize the spine, they do not train the lower back muscles. Instead, they help hold the lower back in a painless pose which is a good strategy to deal with acute pain.

To strengthen the lower back itself and make it resistant to pain, the following exercises are recommended: