Back Pain & Weightloss

kimmykim92
kimmykim92 Posts: 17 Member
edited September 2019 in Health and Weight Loss
I was wondering for anyone who is on here to lose weight and is currently or has in the past experienced debilitating back pain . . .

1. What exercise did you complete that did not aggravate your back pain?
2. How much weight did you have to lose before the back pain got better or went away entirely?

Thanks

Replies

  • jelleigh
    jelleigh Posts: 743 Member
    I have a small personal experience and another experience from a friend.

    I had back problems. Maybe not severe- like I could get out of bed and do some life stuff but some days it would be out and I had to be so careful otherwise it would slip and I would be bed ridden. And it was painful most of the day.
    The exercises I found that helped my back most was PIYO by beachbody. After 3 weeks of that I stopped having problems. In my case it wasn't correlated to my weight level but to my flexibility, stretching, and strengthening. But I think this would be very individual and depending on what type of back problems you have.

    Another friend of mine had bad back problems and found regular swimming laps kept her issues at bay.

    I will say I also found a few visits to a good chiropractor to be really useful. They taught me some stretches (I was stretching the wrong way?) And after a few adjustments and the exercise, I found my issue went away.
  • kimmykim92
    kimmykim92 Posts: 17 Member
    Thanks I'll check it out.
  • threewins
    threewins Posts: 1,455 Member
    I've had two situations where back pain occurred. Sitting in the same chair for 2+ hours. That stopped as I went from 92 to 86 kg. Also my mattress was on the soft side, I had minor back pain in the morning. That stopped when I reached goal weight. I don't have any numbers to give you.

    No useful info about exercises, but using an elliptical can result in back ache. I assume that is because I'm bending forward, due to the geometry of the arms of the machine.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    edited September 2019
    Boy, I tried EVERYTHING for chronic lower back pain - rolfing, massage, yoga, you name it. I didn't know about foam rolling back then. These days, I regularly I walk and do gentle yoga plus all the PT exercises for my knee and hip, and I'm sure that helps. On the rare occasion that it flares up again, I foam roll. I started off with the cheap Gold's Gym one from Walmart and after killing two of them in a year I moved on to https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0040EGNIU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    I think what finally licked it was getting an excellent office chair. I was lucky enough to inherit an expensive Herman Miller from a supervisor who kept falling out of it (he was sitting foolishly - nothing to do with the chair.)

    If you have a desk job, it's possible that a note from your doctor could convince your employer to get you a better chair. This would be considered a "reasonable accommodation" under the ADA (if you are in the US.) I've gotten workplace accommodations for this and that without being formally classified as disabled.

    https://www.disabilitysecrets.com/resources/getting-workplace-accommodation-back-pain-and-back-proble

    Meanwhile, do try gentle yoga, walking, foam rolling, and swimming (some strokes are harder on my back than others).
  • kimmykim92
    kimmykim92 Posts: 17 Member
    Thanks for all the tips. I've been trying out some gentle walking, about an hour a day (which seems to be helping a lot) and the stretches the PT gave me.
  • geltner1
    geltner1 Posts: 85 Member
    Your walking one hour and the PT "homework" sound like an excellent plan. If you have weight to lose, this is a good time to lose some weight the MFP way. I've had debilitating low back pain and PT , icing, rest and time were my helpers.
  • TanyaHooton
    TanyaHooton Posts: 249 Member
    For my back pain, I did PT and yoga. Going to a chiro helped, as did the occasional twisting stretches in the pool.

    Overall I've lost 30-35 lbs. Losing the weight helped in two ways: less strain on my lower back, and now I can adjust my posture to avoid anterior pelvic tilt. That was nearly impossible 30 lbs ago.
  • julanig612
    julanig612 Posts: 40 Member
    Yoga!! Saved me.
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 7,070 Member
    Walking, walking videos like Walk Away the Pounds, yoga, stretching. In my case after my fourth back surgery I bought a recumbent bike. I didn't use it for years and just started at 5he beginning of this year. It's great as it supports the spine. I think the biggest difference is from working out, I added weights and the elliptical in summer. Being stronger and weighing less has made a big difference in what I can do and the ease I can do it with. Nothing has touched the nerve pain.
  • noblsheep
    noblsheep Posts: 593 Member
    My back pain is caused by some natural imbalances aggravated by years of bad posture plus way too much sitting around. I did a bunch of stuff over the years that helped somewhat - stretching, yoga, cycling, resistance training. Ditched the mattress, today I sleep on several layers of old quilts.

    Running was the final magic bullet. I dunno what it does, but sometimes when I've gone too long without running, I can feel the muscles tensing up and not letting go. I go out for a run, and within 20 minutes they are all loosened up and operating as intended.

    Just my $0.02.
  • mommyfit1fun
    mommyfit1fun Posts: 10 Member
    I wish that I had a good answer. I'm still struggling with awful low back pain. I have pretty severe degenerative discs in my lumbo-sacral region of my spine. My PT also mentioned that I'm fairly hyper-mobile in that area of my discs along with being too tight in some muscles/joints while too weak in others. My posture is not good plus I have diastasis recti which is worsened by my poor posture and vice versa. To put it simply, my functionality is a *kitten*-show. I used to run. It was my way to stay fit and trim AND sane. Now I can barely walk at a brisk pace without significant pain during and after. When I'm disciplined and I complete my pelvic PT exercises, I do notice a decrease in my symptoms somewhat. Sadly though, it isn't a significant amount of relief from the pain, crepitus and dysfunction of my low back.😢

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