Am I the only millennial who took the back pain advice of boomers and gen xers seriously and took great care to maintain good posture and back strength; therefore dodging chronic back pain so far?
I was a dancer, so I have good posture and back strength. Also back pain from said dancing. I think we just did more extracurricular sports than our parents and their parents.
I got back in really good shape started playing on a sports club team in the past few years. What I learned is most people's (myself included) back pain is from weak hips with poor hip mobility and being out of shape, rather than posture. Bad posture is also usually a symptom of that.
The issue is we sit too much. Our leisure and work activities usually involve a couch or computer chair. Forces our hips to be weak and everything attached to them suffer.
I do as well. Over the last few years, I've moved my gym workouts from normal bodybuilding to what I call "dwarven training" -- kettlebells, clubs/maces, rucking, hiking, and sandbags (also a lot of biking, but that's not very dwarfish) -- so that I can fix and prevent future injuries. Sandbags are awesome for lower back strength!
I've managed to avoid chronic back issues and carpal tunnel despite being honestly very overweight and such, but my skin has gone in the past year. So now I get skin cracking and nerve pain at the WORST parts on my back. I also find I have to do so much more yoga / stretching to prevent pulling a back muscle in my damn sleep. But where tf do I find the time...
I think people are just soft and performatively complain about mild discomfort from normal wear and tear. Like, if they got legit injured they would change perspective on what pain really is.
People also have a really hard time differentiating between pain and discomfort. I have mild back pain. Used to be more on the moderate side, but I switched from a sedentary career to one that has me walking and climbing stairs all day and it's made a huge difference. I also have had some pain neuroscience education and feel like I have a good grasp on what pain actually is, so while I do have mild/low-level back pain, I'd actually say most days it's really just discomfort or soreness, not true pain. Once you can sort those two things out in your brain, the fear of movement causing more pain goes away, and more movement generally equals less pain (with the inverse being true as well).
I guess so. Because as a 33 year old my back isn’t exactly in pain, just often uncomfortable like I need to stretch, but it’s not pain. Stiffness maybe?
There is some luck involved. Genetics and avoiding major injuries plays a huge factor. Got rear ended at a red light and slipped 2 discs? Back pain forever.
34
u/BigoteMexicano 8h ago
Am I the only millennial who took the back pain advice of boomers and gen xers seriously and took great care to maintain good posture and back strength; therefore dodging chronic back pain so far?