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Comment by seibelj | Hacker News Reader

My back pain began at the tender age of 16. I have a few impinging discs in my lower back that “the cure (surgery) would be worse than the disease”. The only thing that has consistently made me feel better is high intensity workouts and core strength.

I’m in extremely good shape but still in a lot of pain, but luckily that hasn’t stopped me.

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Can you elaborate? I'm in a similar boat and I've tried everything. I can't workout too much cos the back pain gets really worse after that. What do you mean when you say "high intensity workouts"?

Core strength training like planks and squats, also biceps and legs, bench press, essentially lifting in all forms - except anything that is related to bending over. I don’t do any exercises that involve bending or leaning forwards if it doesn’t involve using the bench for support. Also a lot of cardio.

In terms of work I’m a software guy and WFH, I rotate between standing, sitting, and laying throughout the day. Sometimes I work on the floor. Basically I work until I start to feel sore then I switch positions.

If you are interested in training, and especially if you experience pain while doing it, I cannot recommend Barbell Medicine enough. Specifically: "4 Steps For Managing Pain in the Gym" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdwj5ORPmX0

Austin is a professional doctor/coach/lifter and an expert on the topic. The lesson I linked corresponds to this article: https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog/pain-in-training-what-d...

Aside from paying for a pain and rehab consultation with the Barbell Medicine team - I'd recommend posting on their forum: https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/ You can find many examples of people in similar situations receiving professional advice from their staff free of charge.

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