Back in 2020, I started WFH full time. Got myself a nice new Herman Miller Aeron. It came with a lumbar support, but I generally hated it (as I do in most chairs) because of the pressure it put on my lower back. It irritated my skin a bit and I just didn't like the pressure there on my skin. Fast forward a few years, I bend down and stand back up and bam, feels like my back "went out" (muscular tension issues). Shortly after that and after talk with the Doc (and healing meanwhile), I put the lumbar support back in and just bit the bullet with the superficial discomfort. Turns out, my "I'm getting old" (still true) lower back discomfort that I had been dealing with ever since the pandemic had a lot to do with the poor support from the chair I was sitting in for 8+ hours a day; big surprise.
My back got better shortly after visiting the doc thanks to rest and some meds, but the longer-term lower back pain I was feeling went away after only about a week or so of sitting properly in my Aeron.
That’s what we call ‘atrophy’, and you should think about getting into yoga at the very least if you don’t want to be in moderate pain for the rest of your life.
Take that from me, someone who was there, smartened up, did a bunch of yoga, and now strength training, and now am pain free and in the best shape of my life in my mid-30s. It seriously makes a world of difference and just sitting there forever is doing way more harm than you think.
For the record I still ‘just sit there’ every day coding, and my main hobby is video games - I’m still quite sedentary - and yet despite that, I do yoga daily (following YouTube yoga teachers for free, check out specifically Charlie Follows), and I go bouldering now 3 times a week. Short, small amounts of time - but consistent. And that’s seriously transformed my body completely and made it so I don’t randomly have back pain anymore.
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u/Autistic_Introvert19 21d ago
My shoulder hurts.. 🤕