On Jul 20, 2011, at 2:11 PM, Gilbert Wilson wrote: > For those of you who have (or hopefully /had/) back pain what do/did you do > to relieve it? A particular kind of exercise? Physical therapy? Lumbar > pillows to stop slouching? Something else? A combination of things?
Short answer: get stronger and move more. Slightly longer answer: Standing can certainly help, but the real heart of the matter is that our bodies just weren't made to sit rigid for hours on end. Even a person "standing still" makes subtle changes in posture that shift the load around the body from place to place. So if your employer won't provide you with a standing desk or standing doesn't appeal to you, try to break the habit of sitting in the same position for too long. Take quick breaks to stand up, stretch, walk around, etc., or just shift your position slightly if you can't spare the 30 seconds. Seriously consider becoming physically active if you aren't already. Build some overall strength and improve your mobility, especially in your hips. Don't join a gym unless you actually enjoy that sort of thing. Find activities that are fun and sustainable for the long haul. There are lots of great resources out there depending on your particular interests. Regarding posture, Esther Gokhale gave a great talk at Google several years ago. It's worth an hour of your time if you're dealing with chronic back pain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yYJ4hEYudE Regards, Jonathan Jonathan Rozes director, information technology, LAIKA Inc. +1 503 615 3344 t +1 503 702 2067 m _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
