Ask HN: What do you do to avoid back pain?

When you sit in the front of the computer your hands on the keyboard, your pectoral muscles are being shortened, your shoulder turn inward and posture becomes hunched. --&gt; upper back pain.<p>If you want just one exercise to do just now it&#x27;s &#x27;supine gross-leg spinal twist&#x27; <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=L41eyPmXhIQ" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=L41eyPmXhIQ</a> It&#x27;s a core exercise for upper back pain and helps neck, pecs and spine.<p>You gradually stretch until you get knee to the ground and the hand is on the ground also and you can look at the hand.<p>You should really get short program 10-15 mins you do daily, but that one exercise is the best single exercise for upper back pain IMHO.

Its probably just your desktop ergonomics<p>Ideally, your monitor&#x27;s central point to your eyes should be parallel to the ground. You can slouch in your chair slightly so long as your back is straight. Elbows should be supported by the desk or armpad. Feet should touch the ground fully, if not get a foot restpad<p>If you want to reduce backpain from prolonged sitting &#x2F; standing, I usually do deadhangs. Basically a pullup, without pulling up. Also foamrollers on floor&#x2F; massageball against wall reduces need to do any massage therapy

I sit up straight when I can. It is easy to end up sitting wrong when I focus on the terminal too much. I get up and walk around. I take garlic extract which makes me have to use the restroom hourly and keeps my BP lower.<p>I walk around the parking lot &#x2F; complex a couple of times a day and drink water while doing so.<p>If my back gets inflamed, I use a topical anti-inflammatory creme (penetrex), but do so carefully, as it dumps all the buildup in the muscles into the blood stream which puts a heavy load on the kidneys and spikes blood pressure. It contains no warning about this.<p>If things get really bad, I pay a local massage place to walk on me and spend 2 hours working on my back. That also requires drinking a lot of water and &#x2F; or sugar free cranberry juice to keep toxins flushed.<p>I am contemplating a standing desk, but not sure that I would use it as often as I should.

If you get upper back pain <i>that</i> quickly, I&#x27;d be most suspect of your workstation ergonomics. Are you crunching over a laptop?<p>There are a thousand drawings out there, but basically, you shouldn&#x27;t have to hunch forward to work on a computer. Your back and upper arms should be roughly vertical, your forearms and thighs should be roughly horizontal, and your monitor should be at about eye height.<p>Since you&#x27;re already having problems, treat yourself to the things you need (monitor, keyboard, desk, chair, whatever) that help you get closer to that alignment.<p>And <i>then</i> work on strengthening and habit-training. I&#x27;d vouch for Pilates and the Alexander Technique, but you&#x27;ll get a hundred equally valid recommendations. The <i>what</i> is probably less important than the <i>that</i> -- so pick what excites you enough to stick with.

You need to make the back pain go away if you intend to continue your career in programming.<p>The good news that it&#x27;s entirely possible to fix. The bad news is that it takes time and money. I couldn&#x27;t even type for more than 15 minutes before losing my breath from intense jolts of back pain, and then I would be in pain for the rest of the day. Now I code for 8 hours a day again, pain-free.<p>The answer is probably going to be some combination of ergonomic equipment, posture adjustments, and physical exercises.<p>Frustratingly, I&#x27;ve found that conventional medicine gravitates more towards wonder cures like muscle relaxants, dry needling, posture straps (which are basically glorified rubber bands), etc. I found the best advice came from other programmers, ergonomic specialists, and physical trainers and involve significantly changing the way your body interacts with the equipment.<p>If you want to have a career going forward, you need to devote some serious time and energy into this right now. Literally, stop everything and fix it. It&#x27;s probably affecting your work more than you realize, or want to admit. Be completely transparent with your employer, too. They will help you out financially if you have note from a doctor.

I had mild chronic back pain for years. I was browsing a similar thread like this one on hacker news. Someone replied saying that they took up lifting and it resolved the back issues.<p>I took the advice to heart and paid up for 2 months of personal training before I could change my mind. My best investment so far. It got rid of my back pain completely.<p>Also, it improved my posture and body language automatically and also gave me quite a few unexpected benefits.

Try the &quot;foundation method&quot;. For example <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=4BOTvaRaDjI" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=4BOTvaRaDjI</a> I started doing those exercises a few months ago and I feel much better. Also, my posture has improved significantly, I even got a compliment from a fitness professional who saw me sitting in front of my laptop in a cafe :)

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=k1luKAS_Xcg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=k1luKAS_Xcg</a><p>I found this Ted talk helped me with some lower back and leg issues. I don&#x27;t do exactly what she demonstrates in the video, but I find focusing on the &#x27;tail out&#x27; posture helps a lot. Also regular breaks and going for walks.

Are you using a laptop without an external keyboard? If so, you have to hunch over at an awkward angle to see the screen. No amount of stretching or exercise will make that comfortable in the long term.<p>Get an external keyboard and mouse&#x2F;trackpad. Make sure your desk is low enough and your chair high enough that your hands rest comfortably on the keyboard with your shoulders down, elbows at a right angle at your side, and wrists straight. Raise your monitor until its center (for a laptop monitor) or a point 2&#x2F;3 of the way up the screen (for a large monitor) is level with your eyes when sitting fully upright and looking straight ahead.

Check recent submissions about Feldenrakis method.<p>I’d recommend exercise and take breaks every hour.

I had upper and lower back pain (and RSI in my forearms) for years with tons of physical therapy, meds, and acupuncture to fix, but nothing stuck. Eventually what fixed it all was eating healthy, lifting, and now CrossFit. I know this is an unsatisfying answer and I don’t know what you’re doing atm, but for me having a generally healthier and fitter body pretty much fixed all my chronic pain issues.

When not in work: weights, or swimming, or rowing - something that strengthens the muscles that you don&#x27;t hate and will do.<p>When in work: make sure your desk is set up sensibly and your chair is decent, but if your back still hurts, stand up and work like that.

Quick tips for you: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nbcnews.com&#x2F;better&#x2F;health&#x2F;5-adjustments-you-need-make-your-desk-right-now-ncna813726" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nbcnews.com&#x2F;better&#x2F;health&#x2F;5-adjustments-you-need...</a>

Things that help against back pain:<p>- physio therapy<p>- Ibuprofen<p>Things that prevent back pain:<p>- any type of exercise (running, biking, rock climbing, anything that you enjoy)<p>- good chair<p>- desk at correct height<p>- ergonomic mouse&#x2F;keyboard&#x2F;screen<p>Things that are pointless:<p>- exercises that you do once and then don&#x27;t bother anymore

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nhs.uk&#x2F;live-well&#x2F;exercise&#x2F;lower-back-pain-exercises&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nhs.uk&#x2F;live-well&#x2F;exercise&#x2F;lower-back-pain-exerci...</a>

Walk. Move.<p>I have a treadmill desk. Walking covers a multitude of sitting sins. :)<p>I find standing desks alone trade one mobility problem (sitting) for another (standing in one place). Moving is a <i>much</i> better solution.

Using a standing desk part of the day and weight training worked for me.

How&#x27;s your setup? Do you sit hunched over at a laptop? Do you use a monitor but look down at it?<p>But in general: proper posture, foam rolling, mobility exercises.

Got a better chair years ago and it consistently works. When I&#x27;m traveling etc the first thing I miss is having a comfortable chair.

i do the exercises from the 30-day Posture Makeover app. I was in a really bad car accident years ago. My car was totaled when a truck delivering heavy equipment to a construction site, hydorplaned and rear-ended me. I have had all kinds of jacked-up nerve damage and pain from it over the years, but this seems to help.<p>Also standing up and walking around, even for 30 seconds every once in a while helps a LOT.

Standing desk helped me. I still have the option to sit, but rarely use it. Going on four or more years now.

Stand up desk, walking around, and not sitting in the same position too long unless the posture is perfect.

Walking, an hour or two a day, is almost always a good way to keep your back in shape.

deadlift