• lose weight. No clue what shape you are in, but less mass means less strain on your back

• take as many regular breaks as you can, and walk around. Sitting for prolonged periods of time is devastating to your back

• exercise. Strengthening your core will help every aspect of life, including your back/back pain

• buy a very nice pair of running shoes. This will help support your back when you are not sitting and put far less stress on your body as a whole

• analyze your sleeping situation: pillows, mattress, amount of time allotted to sleep. The sitting all day part sucks, but there are other factors such as this that can contribute to alleviating and/or eliminating back strain

• stretch and meditation are things that can improve all aspects of your life, and certainly couldn’t hurt to regularly incorporate into your daily routine

• I’ve never read them myself, but I’ve heard good things about Dr. Sarno’s books. He has several that focus on back pain, and the mind & body. Maybe a lemming who has read can comment?

Back pain is the absolute worst One of the few pains I’ve experienced where even sleep did not provide any respite. I wish you the best of luck!

First, I’m not a doctor. I have hard-won experience, but fact-check everything I say, okay?

Having had surgery for a L4-L5 disc herniation, and declined additional surgery for a L3-L4, my first advice is to avoid surgery if at all possible, and get it if absolutely necessary.

I agree with the previous suggestions to exercise, lose weight if appropriate, and use a lumbar support, but one thing I want to emphasize is that there is no such thing as a back-friendly, orthopedic chair.

Sure, you’ll definitely find chairs that are more comfortable for your particular back woes, but sitting in one position for hours, regardless of chair design, is going to wreck your back. Bodies are meant to move (there’s a reason you “…have the urge to stretch and bend”), so you have to move and change positions often. Maybe look into stand-up/sit down desks; I built one with parts from Monoprice and Home Depot and it was a game-changer.

Sarno’s books (suggested by yeeter) are definitely worth a read. Personally, I got the best mileage from Dr. Stuart McGill’s books. If you haven’t actually herniated a disc, McGill’s “Big Three” exercises (modified curl-up, side bridge and bird-dog) will go a long way to helping you keep it that way.

It took a long time for me to “re-build” my back, and involved everything from multiple-mattress trials to kettlebell swings, to a half-dozen physical therapists, but I’m finally strong again and I’m pain-free 98% of the time.

Please don’t wait. Trust me on this: It’s going to be WAY easier, and exponentially less of a pain in the ass, to address this now instead of after damage is actually done.

The best remedies against back pain are:

1. Good posture Keep a straight back as much, 90 degree knees and elbows.
2. Excercise Work on moving your back a couple times per week, focus on building back and core muscles and mobility and flexibility of the back.
3. Changing position When possible try to stand up at your desk from time to time, or go for short walks around the office. I like to drink lots of water so toilet breaks allow me to walk and stretch a little.

However if it continues and you seem to be getting warm sensations in your back I would recommend going to a doctor to get it checked out.

Change your office setup (chair, desk, keyboard, mouse, etc.)

Chair can make a big difference. I switched from a basic office chair to a Herman Miller and it was night and day. I can sit in that thing all day without noticing, my old chair had me wanting to stand and stretch all the time and still left me with an aching back.

Hi there. Hope you’re enjoying NSQ. Will you please reword your post title so that it asks your question? It’s rule 1 in the sidebar. Thanks for posting.

It’s most likely sitting at work for such extended amounts each day has your hip flexors tightening up. When hip flexors get tight (they’re at the top of my quads connecting to the hips) they cause the hips to tilt due to the extra pull the tightened hip flexors are exerting.

Due to the hips tilting, the lower back had to work harder to compensate, and over time it causes the lower back muscles to get angry, tight, painful, and can even have muscle spasms.

I’ve dealt with this for years, the solution for me is hip flexor stretches, and using a roller to roll out the tight hip flexors. I’ve experienced the beginnings of discomfort in my lower back, then start using a "sprinter stick’ to get the hip flexors to relax by rolling them, plus stretches, then my back pain starts going away.

I too work in a office, I also sit and game a lot too, so this has been a problem for me for years. It wasn’t until the last year did I get told what the real problem was, and now that I have a solution, I’m happy to share that with you.

Also everyone else suggesting exercise aren’t wrong, I know it sucks, but exercise helps a ton of other things too, so it’s worth considering, even if it’s just long walks at first. If you have any follow up questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

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I had some back problems for awhile after about 10 years of office sitting. Then I started casually running and doing morning stretches. Nothing very extreme or difficult. I just get the body moving into positions that you wouldn’t otherwise do and running jostles the bones a bit.

Started having the same issue during covid lockdowns. What works for me now is:

• switching often between sitting and standing for work. Getting a sit-stand desk converter like this one really helped with that.
• pretty serious amounts of near-daily exercise (esp. swimming laps and strength training). This pays off in all kinds of ways beyond fixing back pain
• making sure to take enough breaks, even if that just means getting out for a 10-15 minute walk a couple of extra times per day.

Ok I know not everyone has the money to do this, but I suffered from back pain for many years once I switched to a job where I was sitting all day. Chiropractors couldn’t do anything, physical therapist couldn’t do anything, it was frustrating. Finally my wife convinced me to buy a massage chair (from Costco). This has helped tremendously and keeps my back well aligned and rarely have back pain that interrupts my daily life. They are not cheap but it is better than hurting all the time.

One thing I’ve found that helps me more than most is lumbar support. Just a good pillow or whatever in the right spot does me wonders when sitting for long periods of time.

Yoga, and strength training (core, glutes, hamstrings mostly) is all you need to do, unless you have some underlying physical issue.