Comment by MattyMc | Hacker News Reader

Comment by MattyMc | Hacker News Reader

A bunch of "myths" without any helpful advice for folks with back pain. In short, stretching won't help, lying in bed won't help, daily workouts won't (necessarily) help, yoga/pilates won't help, etc.

Super helpful.

TLDR:

  - "Myth 1: Back pain is linked to having tight hamstrings"
  - "Myth 2: Lying in bed is good for back pain"
  - "Myth 3: My daily workouts at the gym will get rid of my back pain"
  - "Myth 4: Yoga and Pilates are great ways to alleviate back pain"
  - "Myth 5: Stronger muscles will cure my back pain"
  - "Myth 6: Stretching is good for reducing back pain"
  - "Myth 7: Having a powerful back is protective"

His not saying his Yoga/Pilates/Stretching is universally bad. He is staying that some of the things that yoga and pilates recommend can actually make your problems worse.

Take, for example, the forward fold which I've seen recommend in a lot of places for desk workers that experience lower back pain. So you sit all day at your desk with your lumbar spine (lowest part of the spine) in flexion all day. After some years your back back starts to get a bit achy. Maybe a little disc bulge because your vertebrates are asymmetrically pressing on your disks for 10 hours a day. Doing a forward fold will only further aggregate any issues you might have. Because you have already spent 10 hours a day for years with your back in flexion. Flexion is your problem, not the solution. It is like have a sore thumb and then start hitting it with a hammer to try and fix it.

If you have backpain from sitting too much. Blindly starting to bend and twist your lumbar spine is not going to solve anything. In the worst case it will only make things worse. Instead do lots of core work with neutral spine and work on some hip mobility and try to rediscover those glutes you forgot you had.

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