Tips Back Pain

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"Many large employers have invested in ergonomic infrastructure, but back pain and neck pain remain among the most common causes of lost productivity. The challenge is no longer awareness—it's employee behavior, workstation habits, prolonged sitting, and daily implementation."

UCLA Health, Spine / Ergonomics page
The UCLA Health spine center, in its “Ergonomic and Proper Posture for Sitting” guidance, explicitly says:

“There should be a cushion that causes your lower back to arch slightly so that you don’t slump forward… insert a lumbar support or get a new chair.”

The World Health Organization identifies low back pain as the leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting hundreds of millions of people and creating enormous economic and productivity losses.

Find Trisha's first eBook on Amazon, Mariposa Oracle, Queen City Licensed Massage Therapist, part memoir, part historical fiction and read her five-star Reader's Favorite review.

Be in the know about neural plasticity of the brain in Trisha's eBook sequel, The Mirror, also on Amazon. Find her five-star Reader's Favorite review.

Hole #1 in Mainstream Knowledge of Lower Back Pain and Forward Neck: Hyperextended Knees - knees are pushed completely back, flipping the hips into an unnatural position, compressing the spine, and throwing the head forward. This standing position creates similar negative impacts as sitting with poor posture at a computer, not to mention that the knee joints are being forced to support the body instead of a combined synergistic support by the muscles and the joints.

Hole #2: In the above image, the core is deactivated. Your glutes (a key part of your core) are "turned off" and need reactivation efforts through bridging or leg extension to successfully re-engage the muscles (put them back to work!!) to do their intended roles.

Hole #3: In the above image, the front of the body is over-contracted aka tight. It needs to be stretched. The body is out of alignment and strengthening cannot happen until alignment is corrected by stretching what is overly tight.

In bridging, the front of body stretches as you lift your hips; so, conscious tightening of the glutes at the top of the bridge offers effective strengthening. (This sequenced balancing to imbalanced muscle use and alignment needs to be done with consistency and regularity each week..)

Free FIXES: Soften knees aka bend them a millimeter or so when standing.. See the difference in the image above from the one with the hyperextended knees: note how the body realigned a great deal. You can feel how your neck and shoulders' posture corrects by several inches.

FIX #2: Stretch the front of the body, especially the quads, psoas, chest. And, after stretching these areas, consciously strengthen the posterior chain of the body. That sequence will be the most effective to your postural corrective efforts aka will help reduce pain and avoid chronic pain.

FYI: Softening the knees requires the corrective partipation of the core, which most likely has been deactivated through glute amnesia. Google this term.

It takes a full understanding and putting all the aforementioned elements at play. BUT, the fixes are FREE and the corrections take very little time to do regularly.

About: Trisha Barry

My background:

Certified: iRest Yoga Nidra instructor

E RYT 200 - experienced yoga instructor,

SEYI graduate, Trauma-Informed Yoga Instructor

MFA Creative Writing - Queens University, Charlotte, NC

Licensed Massage Therapist, FL 96149