Comment by cj
2 days ago
One thing that bodybuilding taught me is to never underestimate how significantly you can change how your body works through weight training, mobility work and physical therapy.
I used to suffer from chronic low back pain. It hurt to get out of bed every day for years. 1-2 years after getting into bodybuilding the pain disappeared and didn’t come back. Not only that, but I’m not physically limited by my back whatsoever.
I’m not suggesting you start bodybuilding. But the things I think that helped was 1) weight training, 2) mobility work / stretching, 3) physical therapy. That combo can be really powerful.
Double down on this. I had a way worse back and bad pain in my early 20s than now later in life. I started with just walking an hour a day, later added gym. You don't need to become the next Arnold, just show up consistently.
One side note: There are core strength/posture issues but also issues that need medical attention. The tricky part is figuring out which.
Yes me too! I used to have back problems all the time, sometimes it would give out for no reason and I'm stuck in bed for a week. I started lifting from nothing, just the 45lb barbell, using a simple program called Stronglifts. That was probably 10 years ago, I have had some ups and downs of course, but overall my back has been solid since.
Unfortunately, it goes both ways. I started training 6-7 years ago and today have constant lower back pain (non-existent prior) and chronic shoulder pain (again, non-existent prior). When you lift, even with reasonable weight in a conservative progressive overload program, injuries can and will occur. In my case, there was no singular “injury”; the pain just gradually crept in and has not gone away.
I still wouldn’t stop weight training, as it’s a part of my life that I love. However, despite never going for ambitious PRs, I have chronic pain that I never had prior to starting - and no amount of physical therapy has resolved it.
As always, YMMV.