Back discomfort from hours on the computer

I'm with everything Dr Ngo said, perhaps minus the yoga, but each to his own.

Bought a standing desk a few years back and that was a great decision. I'll sit for 1-2 hours and stand half hour to an hour, and I'll do that throughout the day.

When I work out, I'll also make sure I get back exercises in there, like lower back ones, pullups, rows, the works. As a result I never have back issues.

I've also heard of people sitting on those inflatable exercise balls, as they force you to have good posture and straight back. However, it's important that you have an already strong back, or else you can hurt it in the long run. At least i've read.
 


Buy an Aeron, sorted me out. 5 years with it now and have had no problems, the "executive chair" I used for the 5 years before that was relatively cheap and definitely caused my issues.
 
After I "threw out my back" (see: I'm a fat fuck) I bought an Embody and it's made a pretty huge difference. HOWEVER, it only makes a difference if you sit in it properly. Slouching and all of that makes the chair an almost complete waste of money. I could feel a difference after a week in it.

Stretching makes all the difference in the world. It's not uncommon for people at the the office to see me throw one foot up on the chair and stretch every now and again.
 
Have you been practicing proper lifting techniques?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHaBM-0BPro"]Peter's helpful tips for lifting heavy objects safely - YouTube[/ame]
 
check out the alexander technique... and also strengthen your back at the gym with squats, deadlifts, etc... been through this shit, the answer is actually pretty simple it just takes a bit of work.

you are young, get stronger and you'll be fine.
 
I didn't read everything here, but get an inversion table. That plus stretching will help a lot. Do it now before you end up like me with a permanent injury that needs surgery.
 
Use Pomodoros to organise your workday. You work in 25 minute bursts and have 5 minute breaks. After 4 cycles, you get a longer break of 30 minutes. Not only do you get a lot more stuff done because of the no nonsense approach this system demands, you'll avoid the back discomfort as you're encouraged to walk away from your computer when taking the 5 minute break.

I use it to exercise. I have an ab exercise wheel and in the 5 minutes, I bang out a few sets and when I get back t work, blood is rushing through my veins, I'm alert and I'm rearing to get going again.
 
HTFU





Seriously though, figure out your ergonomics. I had really bad carpal tunnel until I fixed my elbow to kb angle, and started taking breaks every hour.

Good luck.
 
Deadlifts and squats with good form will sort out your back. I never had back problems when I deadlifted up to 190 kg, yet now when I don't I have all sorts of leg, back and neck pain. Don't believe the crap about deadlifting and squat being dangerous. It's the best excercise of all. In fact, deadlift, squat and shoulder press is all you ever need to do and can be done in 30-45 minutes 3 times pr. week.
 
BRACE POSTURE SHOULDER BACK CORRECTIVE SUPPORT BELT BACK PAIN FREE SHIPPING SAVE | eBay

Weird as it sounds that thing changed my life. You look like a total loser wearing it, but within a week it helped me tremendously with upper back pain and chronic tendonitis in my shoulder. Pretty much forces you to sit properly. Had mine a year now, and it's amazing how I can now sit for dozens of hours where I used to constantly be in pain after an hour or two.

Also, pay particular attention to the armrest height on your chair. Most people take it for granted but it makes a huge impact
 
............I'll post here in the hope of helping someone. I had this same problem, and spent hundreds on physical therapy, new high end chairs, gel pads, etc. Although none of this worked, I was able to gets some knowledge out of it and ntoiced two things to help. (1) I got an inversion table in my office; but most importantly (2) Hamstring stiffness due to the chair. Put your back up against a wall, make your back go upward 90 degress (flush with the wall). Lock your kneecaps with both legs making sure that both legs stick our 100% with locked kneecaps, if you cant do this, im like 1000% sure that this is where your pain derives (its coming from your lower back probably right)? If so, Im pretty sure thats the problem. If it is, pm me and i can elaborate more on the subject.
 
About 3 years go I started to develop the same problem with my lower/mid back, after years of using chairs from Office Max or Office Depot that were in the neighborhood of $300.

I never wanted to spend on a real chair and these always seemed decent enough until the back pain came in.

I did some research on the ergo chairs and found a study done on them. There was some chick responsible for the productivity of Toyota employees (I think it was Toyota -- was some big ass corp anyway).

After quite a bit of testing, over thousands of employees, the chair her studies showed to provide her employees the most comfort throughout long work days was the Steelcase Leap.

So, I bought one to try it out. Within a week my back pain was gone. No new exercises... no change in work habits... just added the chair and backpain was gone.

Interestingly enough the Steelcase is like half or less of the other ergo chairs like Herman Miller, etc.

I highly recommend these things. Check it out fo real.
 
Lay on your stomach and have your gf/faggot bf walk up and down your spine - provided they're a light weight of course. Works a fucking treat.
 
yoga yoga yoga yoga yoga

All you need is a level floor capable of holding the length of your body with your arms stretched out and you're good to go. Don't go to a class or anything because you don't need to be there for an hour and unless you live in a "trendy" area everyone will assume you're gay. Just do some basic stretches and hold them and you'll notice a big difference, I'd suggest 15 minutes for every 4 hours of sitting. Just do them while waiting/refreshing wf/reddit/email/etc.
 
I found that strengthening my overall core also helped eliminate back pains. Try doing some ab and ass workouts, squats are great.
 
Unarmed Gunman said:
A lot of back pain is caused by not having strong enough abdominal muscles. Get your ab game right and your back will feel better and be much stronger.
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Makes sense. I played hockey/soccer for nearly 10 years, never experienced any sort of back pain. Almost a year or two after I quit, the pain slowly start increasing (as I got more and more out of shape). Time to hit the gym again haha.
 
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