Earlier this year, I had some persistent back pain that I was thankfully able to resolve. Since that time, my back has been pain-free. It took some time to get to the root cause, but I was thankful that I was able to do so.
One morning, I noticed that my back was bothering me. I chalked it up to soreness from a workout, but the soreness didn’t go away after a few days like I expected. I would try to do certain stretches and would take short stretch breaks throughout the day at work. None of the stretches brought lasting relief. I tried researching sleep positions and what I could do to modify things. I tried extra cushioning for my back, but it didn’t seem to help either. I decided that more drastic measures were needed when I was at church and trying to help move chairs after a luncheon on a Sunday. My back pain got pretty intense after trying to lift just a few chairs, which I knew should not have given me any pain. I decided to see what else I could do.
Later that Sunday afternoon, I went to the store and looked at memory foam mattress toppers. I picked one that would be thick enough to offer real support but not so thick that I couldn’t get my sheets to fit. While the memory foam topper was comfortable enough, I didn’t notice a change in my back pain over the next several days. One evening, when I was at my parents’ watching a movie, I noticed I felt better when I kept my feet flat on the floor. I decided to start making it a habit to keep my feet flat on the floor when sitting. I also decided to look online to find out how to sit in a chair when at a computer desk, as that is how I spend most of my workday. I found a picture, printed it out, and placed it on the wall near my monitor. I removed the pillow I used to keep at the back of the chair and found it was much more comfortable just to sit back in the chair without it. I made this change where I sat at home as well and only kept pillows where the seat would be too deep without them. I also adjusted the height of my office chairs so I could keep my feet flat on the floor. The desk in my home office was then too high, so I ordered a keyboard tray. I also had to order a new office chair that could fit between a part of the desk that extended behind the chair and the keyboard tray. The new chair was much more comfortable.
I really think the back pain started to resolve after I began making the changes to how I sat, by removing the back pillow where I didn’t really need it and by sitting up straight, with my back touching the back of the chair, and with my feet flat on the floor. It took a few weeks before going away completely, but within a couple of days, I could tell that the back pain became more dull. That change helped me to know that I was on the right track, so I just patiently kept doing what I was doing until the pain resolved completely.
Back pain can be caused by many things, but in my case, it was the way I was sitting in chairs. Adjusting things so I could sit properly made a big difference in my back pain. It was some trial-and-error, and I’m very thankful to God for helping me to find some of these causes, but it came down to changing things that I do for large portions of my day. If you’re suffering from back (and other types of) pain, the best place to start would be to consider things you do for much of your day and for most days to see if any of those things may be contributing to pain. The next step would be to see how those things could be modified to lessen or prevent pain.
Living with back pain for more than a short time can really affect a person’s quality of life. Hopefully what I did or the more general tips can help others find the cause(s) of their pain and resolve them.
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