Modern Man’s Quest to Eliminate Back Pain
Human beings are designed to move. This is one of life’s undeniable truths. From hunting and gathering, waging war, procreating and building of civilization, the necessity of movement and expenditure of energy is a common thread throughout the history of the human race.
With the dawning of the Information Age, vast numbers of people have moved away from lives spent working manually, to lives working digitally in a sedentary mode. Workdays spent hunched over a desk or curled around a computer have had great consequences for the way our body functions. One highly visible manifestation of this is the body composition and body shape of many of us. The obesity epidemic in the country and around the world is well documented. But another less obvious result of modern life is the havoc that lives spent in an office can wreak on our musculoskeletal system. Our spines tell this story well.
Our backs are not strong enough to carry the load of a life spent in unnatural positions in an office that our primitive skeletons were not designed for. A healthy spine has three natural curves. The cervical spine, located at the area of the neck, is a lordotic curve, curving inward naturally. The thoracic spine, the largest part of the spine in the middle of our backs, is kyphotic, curving outward. The lumbar spine, or low back is also a lordotic curve, curving inward.
As I’m typing this I can feel my low back flattening into an unfavorable position whilst my neck is shifting forward uncomfortably…
WHY DOES MY BACK HURT?
Sitting, slouching and lounging for long periods of time can potentially increase these natural curves to unnatural dimensions. This can wreak havoc on the surrounding muscle, connective tissue, and the spine itself. Likewise you can begin to curve the spine in unfavorable ways when seated for extended periods, which can also cause dysfunction, discomfort and pain. The lordotic curve of the cervical can become kyphotic. The kyphotic curve of the thoracic can become lordotic, and the lordotic curve of the lumbar can become kyphotic. Each of these situations have implications for your posture and subsequently the way your spine moves and feels. Headaches, muscle aches, strains, spasms and general discomfort often result.
A sedentary work life can also be detrimental to our musculoskeletal system through neurological mechanisms. Unused muscles can become dormant. They do not activate and fire in the way that we need them to move. This is commonly seen in the area of the lumbar spine, where weak glute and abdominal muscles place undue stress on the low back. The hard spinal structures and discs are overburdened by muscles that are simply not doing their job, supporting them as they should!
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Ok. That was a large dose of bad news. The good news is this. For most of us, it is well within our power to correct and avoid this suffering. The first step to eliminate back pain is, yes you’ve guessed it, move! Try to live a more primitive life, even in the midst of our modern work settings! Walk, stand, stretch, take stairs and get more dynamic and physical regardless of what line of work you are in and the places your work takes you. Next we need to examine what we are doing physically outside of work to enable our body to sustain the physical “rigors” of work. Even if that involves sitting in an office all day long.
Skelehealth is your partner in your quest to improve your mobility, living healthier, and eliminate back pain in the process. We will continue to expound on this discussion to provide you with real life take home strategies to be your best self at work, home and everywhere else your life journey takes you.
