Low back pain - The problem with posture

A good percentage of the low back pain cases we see in the clinic today are partially caused by poor posture in the work environment. Think about is this way-

For millions of years, we have evolved to run, jump, climb, crawl, and swim around looking for food and foraging daily. In the past 5000 years, we shifted from hunter-gatherers to farmers mostly. Here, we would till, sow, reap, and walk for hours a day.

Now, especially in the last 50 years, we have become more and more tied to the office desk which jams in our lumbar spines and distorts the proper bio-mechanics of the pelvis. You figure 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year...how long before things start going wrong?

Normally, the human body is pretty well suited to absorb shock but, in today's hectic world, we sit around working all day and then try to do some spin class or power yoga after work to burn off the calories. Better yet, we go months without exercise and then go out to play football with the guys. No stretching- no conditioning- just get out there and kill yourself. These weekend warriors are the people I usually see in the clinic. They've injured themselves because years of poor posture have set them up for it.

What do we do to fix it?

Acupuncture is amazing for low back pain relief but it is not enough to fix the problem. I always refer these cases to Pilates for core conditioning and give them a home stretching and strengthening program. We work on setting up proper posture at work and we look at their diets to take out inflammatory foods. The gist of the story here is: we have to be conscious of our daily behaviors because 20 years can blow by and suddenly you wonder why your back hurts from your dance class last night. Was it the class or the 20 years of crushing your spine in the office chair that did it?