The last place a middle age person with back pain needs to be is in a recliner.
If you or a loved-one has low back pain, then GET MOVING, stop resting.
Meghan Murphy, MD, a neurosurgeon with the Mayo Clinic Health System, warns against the idea that lots of rest is the best thing you can do for a “bad back.”
Of course, it depends on what’s causing the pain in the first place, as there are many possibilities.
So for example, if you strained a muscle in the gym during a deadlift (which I have done), then certainly, you need to avoid engaging that area for the next several days.
The planned helping a friend move needs to be cancelled.
However, inertia for too long can actually drag out back pain or make it worse.
Dr. Murphy explains that when pain is caused by factors such as pinched nerves, disc problems or worn joints, a sedentary existence can lead to stiff muscles, increased pain, loss of strength and greater overall weakness.
Very sadly, I’m seeing this in Jaymi, a 55-year-old woman with an intellectual disability whom I’ve worked with on several occasions as a community connector.
When I first began working with her, I immediately noted her very slow, shuffling walk and complete lack of stamina.
Back pain is in her profile, and she also told me she suffers from this. Jaymi’s age is not the issue.
The back pain is the common garden variety that results from lifelong sedentary living and having everything done for you because you have a cognitive impairment.
Compounding the issue is Jaymi’s morbid obesity — but at the same time, being heavy shouldn’t be a reason for encouraging inactivity.
The age of 55 is way too young to allow back pain to put you in a recliner, but that’s where Jaymi spends much of her time when she’s not in her day program.
I know this because that’s exactly where she was the last two hours of her program my second day with her. It’s her very own recliner.
I predicted that within five years, this enabled woman would be living life out of a wheelchair.
I worked with her several more times, then due to scheduling changes, was assigned to a different individual.
However, three months later, I ran into Jaymi’s new connector.
The connector just happened to mention that she’s limited in taking Jaymi, and a second special needs woman who’s of similar age, to various activities because “Jaymi can’t walk for long because of her back pain.”
This wasn’t new news. But the shocker came when the connector told me, “I’m trying to get a wheelchair for Jaymi. She can’t go places without a wheelchair. There’s one here at the office but it’s too heavy for me to put into my vehicle, so we can’t go anywhere that she needs to walk.”
So now, Jaymi is needing a wheelchair for simple excursions. We’re not talking hikes or mile-long walks on graded streets. Rather, even just simple walking inside a mall is too difficult.
Looks like my prediction is going to come true way sooner than five years.
Jaymi’s sister, whom she lives with, believes that the best thing for chronic back pain is that overused recliner that faces the TV.
The back pain has developed gradually over time; it’s not from a traumatic injury.
Jaymi was never encouraged to work out when she was younger, not even any basic yoga moves.
Though she has an intellectual challenge, she’s bright enough to follow basic exercise instruction; this could have been her history, but unfortunately, her inner circle never saw it that way — even though she’s a very compliant individual.
Like many intellectually disabled women in her generation, she’s been enabled and never encouraged to do things that require being on her feet, let alone athletic participation.
This lifelong inertia is now hitting hard, proving that old saying, “If you don’t use it you’ll lose it.”
Because Jaymi can still walk without assistance (albeit short distances), it stands to reason that it’s not too late for her to benefit from a back and core strengthening program.
But her sister’s mentality is old-school: rest, rest and more rest, and when it gets really bad, get another steroid injection.
Dr. Murphy’s viewpoint is that with chronic back pain, you should adjust what you’re doing rather than become inert.
Stick with gentle activities such as walking or swimming, and steer clear of bending, twisting or heavy lifting. The body needs to keep moving.
Jaymi and anyone else who’s been led to believe that spending a lot of time in a recliner is good for the back needs to replace recliner time with walking time, plus a physical therapy program — along with swimming, stationary bike pedaling and whatever else would be cleared by a back specialist.
But if Jaymi keeps subscribing to the old-school approach to chronic low back pain … well, her connector better get strong enough to get a wheelchair in and out of a car.
Dr. Murphy treats spinal and brain pathology. Her focuses include degenerative spine disease, and traumatic brain and spine injury.
