The Back Pain Solution

By the time you finish reading this article, more that 30 million Americans will experience some form of acute back pain. By the end of this year, roughly half of adults in America will have at least one symptom of back pain.

Back pain is a terribly complicated issue because there are so many factors that play into its origins. It affects almost all of us, yet we clearly do not have a handle on how to best manage it. It comes up for a while, we seek help, sometimes get relief, and then at some point in the future, we very likely experience the same issues if not worse.

The worst part about back pain is that it is rarely due to traumatic events. It would be one thing if the only time we had back pain was after falling off a ladder or playing tackle football, but for most us, it just happens seemingly without cause. We were fine yesterday, and today we are in pain! Today, I would like to explore some of my philosophies behind the origins of back pain, and give a few prescriptions for how to avoid it as best as possible.

Cause & Correction #1: DIET!

This is probably not what you would expect to be the first and most important thing to correct when it comes to back pain, but when it comes to chronic issues, there is no better place to start than this. Diet can negatively affect the stability of your spine in two ways. First, if you have a poor diet, you are probably overweight and have a constant load on your spine. The weight puts a strain on your back, especially when it is concentrated around your midsection. You and your back have to work pretty darn hard when you have that extra weight pulling on your midsection.

The second but more important reason diet can be a problem results from the effect that inflammatory foods can have on your ability to stabilize your spine. The reason I feel this is a bigger problem is that you do not have to be overweight for this situation to lead to back issues. Regardless of weight, if you eat foods that cause bloating, intestinal irritation, or leads to inflammation in your joints, you will be INCAPABLE of bracing your core. This means that no matter how you think you should pick up something, you will not be able to brace your core for the lift. With no ability to use your core, your back must take the entire load. This is a bad situation because your back muscles were not designed to help you lift; they were designed to stabilize your spine. Because of this, when you try to use them to extend your back to lift something, they are structured in such a way that they will actually take about 10-20x the load of the weight you are lifting. So when you go to pick up your 50lb suitcase, the load on your back is more like 500-1000 pounds!

Hopefully it is clear that this is not a situation you want to put yourself in. So how to you avoid it? Well the most important thing is to listen to your body. If you feel bloated after a meal, you can be pretty sure that something you just ate does not agree with your digestive system. If you commonly wake up with aches and pains (which is NOT normal, by the way) you can be pretty sure that the diet you are on right now is inflammatory. If you get sick often or have big energy swings, you can also be confident that it is time to reassess your diet. All of these things are indicative of inflammation and gut irritation, both of which can lead to back pain (along with a lot of other health issues). Start here and you will be setting you and yourself back up for success!

Cause & Correction #2: Posture & Sitting

This is probably the most obvious solution, and yet it is amazing how few people do anything to tackle this problem. Someone suffering from back pain for 20 years can be taking anti-inflammatories, seeing a chiropractor 3x per week, and using heating pads all day but will not spend any time working on their posture.

Posture simply means keeping your body in optimal alignment. This should not be challenging, but becomes so when we spend our whole lives sitting. I have written on this subject plenty of times, so I will not spend too much time on this point. Just know that if you have back pain you better start doing some stretching, strengthening, massage, and a whole lot less sitting if you want anything to change.

Cause & Correction #3: Inactivity

Inactivity is closely tied in with posture, but it is its own issue that must be addressed. This is another recommendation that is made day in and day out for people with back pain but people seemingly do not prioritize it.

There is a great quote from one of my favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption.  Hopefully you have seen this film as well (and if not, I highly recommend it!), so I will not go into the context of the quote, but there is a point when the two main characters are talking and one of them says “I guess it comes down to a simple choice…get busy living or get busy dying.” I love this because this is exactly how it works when it comes to staying active. If you choose to move, you choose to live fully. If you choose to be stationary, you are choosing to literally shorten your life and decrease your quality of life. Our bodies were designed to move for most of our waking hours and without this stimulus, we give our bodies no reason to stay healthy.  So again, it comes down to a simple choice…either get busy moving or get busy dying.

Cause & Correction #4: Sleep

There are two key points to be made about sleep. First, the better sleep you can get, the more likely you are to stay healthy in general and the faster you will recover from any back issues you may be dealing with.

Second, the type of mattress you use can make a HUGE difference in the health of your back. I know there are a lot of people that love their nice soft mattresses, but over time, this can wreak havoc on your back. Your spine needs support as you lie down, and when you have a soft mattress, your body ends up bending into positions that are less than optimal. This cannot only lead to back pain in the morning, but it can also lead to poor posture over time, which in turn can lead to back pain…so it’s hitting you from both sides!

In the end, you will get used to a firmer mattress, but you will never get used to a bad back.  

Cause & Correction #5: Fashion

This is a short one for the ladies, but it should not be overlooked. Wearing heels excessively is a surefire way to end up having back pain. The problem here is actually not in the heel-wearing itself, but in the adaptation your body makes to having your heels lifted all the time. When this is your norm, you end up putting strain on your back when you are NOT in heels. All of that tightness from your calves pulls along your posterior chain (the whole backside of your body) and puts pressure on your back. This is painful at best and can lead to injury at worst.

If you can, try to keep heels for special occasions and try to stay as flat-footed as possible the rest of the time.

The Wrap Up

While this article does not cover every component of the back pain epidemic, I hope that it does give you some insight into things you can start doing today to help get yourself out of pain. There is nothing worse than living your life unable to move freely and without pain, so I hope you find guidance and motivation through this article. It may take time to fully resolve a back pain issue, but when given the alternative of lifelong pain, I would always choose the former.