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Comment by hnick | Hacker News Reader

> I'm no longer a fan of static stretching

A physiotherapist once told me in direct words that (in his opinion) flexibility without strength is useless. He'd treated some people that were into Yoga and similar activities, and their flexibility caused injuries doing normal activities, I assume because things were just moving around too much without proper internal support.

I've personally found muscle exhaustion to be the best cure for my back pain. I don't know why, but I figure a) exhaustion and soreness signals being stronger than the pain, and/or b) pain being caused by muscle tension/grabbing and exhaustion removes strength from this.

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Tom Kurz talks about this (the relationship between stretching and strength) in "Stretching Scientifically". Generally you weaken the muscle when you stretch it so its important to combine stretching with strength training. Static stretching is pretty mild though.

also re: Yoga ... there's lots of Yoga practices that combine strength with flexibility... Yoga tends to pop up as something that has been proven to be beneficial for back pain while pretty much everything else is as good as placebo (including surgical intervention).

People that sit all day tend to have shorter hamstrings (because the muscle is contracted all day) so I think stretching is important. An imbalance in leg muscles can tilt your pelvis and propagate up to your back...

This point you made about imbalance in leg muscles has just illuminated a possible source of my back pain that should have been obvious to me but I just attributed it to age. My left leg is weaker than my right due to knee surgery I had a decade ago. My muscles never fully recovered and now I have back/leg pain on my right side. I will have to look into correcting this and see how my pain progresses over time.

The way that all of those things are connected and propagate is not just some pseudo new age nonsense, they're very literally connected in mechanical chains. My shortened hamstrings caused my lower back to roll in at the bottom of my squats. Lengthening my hamstrings fixed my squat and my back.

I highly recommend you visit a well-reviewed physiotherapist. I have struggled with back pain for about 10 years, from a high-school football injury. Turns out, beyond the "injury", I have a really skewed pelvis, which is causing issues around my body including my back pain!

The complexity of human movement is fascinating the more you learn about it.

> also re: Yoga ... there's lots of Yoga practices that combine strength with flexibility... Yoga tends to pop up as something that has been proven to be beneficial for back pain while pretty much everything else is as good as placebo (including surgical intervention).

Pilates is strength-focused yoga. It saved me from needing back surgery. Please if anyone out there is suffering from chronic back pain please look into Pilates.

Yes there are all types of yoga from pseudo-religious through to extremely practical. I've done some holds in some classes that would've been amazing for strength (they left me sweating).

As the other poster said though I prefer pilates, and in particular pilates reformer (with the bed) seems very good for back pain since in a lot of exercises you can support your back to varying degrees depending what you need at the time. The springs means it's not technically just body weight but it seems about right for me, at this time.

I'm definitely a short hamstring sufferer who could stretch more and need to work that in.

I suppose it depends on the Yoga flavour. I had severe back pains after turning 30 (had to lie on the floor because I could not sit anymore in the office). I started Yoga a few years later. Doing it for 4 years now. I have a strong core and zero back problems anymore.

There is a tremendous diversity in yoga styles, and teacher capabilities. Always check the credentials of your teacher and do research on the style of yoga you do.

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