Get a decent chair and desk setup, and regularly get out of that chair (in my completely unfounded opinion, a bad chair that you frequently get out of is better than a good one hat you sit in for hours at an end)
And get some exercise outside working hours (if you don’t really have ‘outside working hours’, that’s the first thing to fix)
YMMV of course, and most other suggestions here are also worth trying.
Most importantly, if you try something stick to it for 6-12 weeks before changing up. That's enough time for yoga/weights/pilates/whatevs to make a meaningful impact.
All doctors I've seen say I've tight muscles and have very few moments in months with no headaches and/or pain in my extremities. Tests did not show any diseases like lupus and doctors think it is a combination of sinus issues (headaches) and early onset of arthritis, so I have learned to live with the pain and consider it normal.
But today after PT evaluation, they think I've cervical radiculopathy and believe most of the issues stem from pinched nerves and left untreated could result in loss of strength.
So it maybe a good idea to go see a doctor if you have frequent neck/back pain.
If you move to a standing setup, be sure to buy a standing pad with ridges. My feet were killing me initially but that's cus they weren't used to being stood on and the ridges force you not to lock your hip.
I was 29m, 5'8" 215 pounds in 2018 when this all hit me. By 2020 I was as low as 165 and could run 5 miles at mid 7 min pace. I changed my life around and felt great. Covid sucked and I'm at 195 today but back on a path to the 170s.
Haven't had ulnar neuropathy since and at my company, others who have reported issues, we moved to standing setups and those issues have also resolved themselves.
Backpain appeared along with my first kid where you contort your body when sleeping to make sure they are sleeping well. Went to chiropractor to reset, switched to the firmest foam mattress, and lift weights to strengthen back muscles.
You can even get templates to start you off: https://www.barbellmedicine.com/shop/training-templates/low-...
Also look at what you're doing with you legs. If you're crossing them then you'll be affecting the position of you hips, which in turn affects your back.
I had to go to a physiotherapist to heal my sciatic nerves when they blew up for the first time. It was so bad, I needed injections at the hospital just to not be in pain and took rather strong pain killers for a week.
A combination of the following has drastically changed my back health in the last 2 years.
* Basic weight lifting/strength training 2x per week focusing on shoulders/back/chest. Just 20-30 minutes. Nothing extreme.
* Switching from sitting in a chair, sitting on a yoga ball, laying on a yoga mat on the floor, and standing desk every hour. According to my physiotherapist, any one position for long periods of time is bad and present their own issues; the key is not staying in one position for more than 1-2 hours at a time.
* Yoga is good
* Chiropractors are good.
* Firm mattress.
Also gravity boots from time to time and basic stretching.
(2) Pain can be from something as simple as underusing a region of muscles. Once you know your specific problems it's often really easy to treat and prevent.
(3) Fixing that sooner rather than later is probably a good idea. You heal faster when you're younger, and chronic pain can easily become a mental pattern long after the physical trigger has healed (and AFAICT psychological therapies for that sort of pain are still in their infancy).
(4) Muscles and bones benefit from impact, even something as mild as walking 10-60min daily. If you're physically atypical in any sense then still see a doctor to make a plan first, but adding a little of any sort of exercise will probably help mitigate any issues.
(5) Reiterating, if you're currently in pain, see a professional.
I've gone to a series of physical therapists. They all offered me extremely generic regimens of stretches and exercises that had little impact on my pain. None of them suggested any particular diagnosis or escalation options. Just... it's not working? Well, how about you pay for a few more sessions?
Edit: I have long ago bought all the desk jockey ergonomic accessories -- a standing desk, a split keyboard, a floor mat, a balance board, an ergo mouse, long walks twice a day. They made no difference.
I agree it's not a silver bullet, and I probably should have made that more clear. The point I was trying to make is that they're likely to get a lot of advice in this thread, and knowing nothing else about them other than that they have back pain and a standard desk job it's more likely that a doctor will be able to help than that any recommendation here will make a difference.
To your issue, back pain can be really complicated. Before I found a doctor that helped I found swimming in cold water made a huge difference where nothing else did (lucky to live near the ocean). If your typical doctor doesn't have a clue because something atypical is going on then it can be time consuming and expensive to find somebody who can actually help though. I don't have any actionable advice for atypical issues :/
https://www.backfitpro.com/about-us/
His book Back Mechanic is aimed at ordinary people, but he's worked with athletes as well, so you can find some stuff on that kind of topic.
Walking is a simple and underated cure when you're already in the pain stage.
- Use a standup desk for part of the day.
- Look up some physical therapy moves for the specific part of your back which hurts and do them a few times a week when you wake up or go to bed. My pain is usually in my mid back, and I discovered a couple moves which have helped reduce the occurrences of spasms.
If the pain is intermittent. You may have a muscle spasm. Slow warm-up exercises may help. For example, the "cat-dog" exercise. Do 10-15 repetitions, then put ice on it for 5 seconds. This will allow the blood to circulate. To get rid of back or neck pain, you need the blood to circulate in the problem area and thus nourish the spinal column.
Also problems are often caused by lack of mobility. You become bony. You have to at least do some warming up.
Not a troll post. I did this. It worked.
It also helped to raise up my monitors to a consistent height that removed the need to tilt my head down, but the split keyboard completely solved some neck and shoulder pain issues.
Sometimes, there's no substitute for finding out what is actually going on.
The body keeps the score.
Proper seating and the proper height of the working table and the height of the monitor. Since that, I don't have backpain not neck pain
time for exercise