From having daily back pain to none at all—as a software developer
EVERYTHING I did that worked for me.
Hey, listen!
Reading this text will save you (probably) thousands of dollars, euros, rupees, bitcoins.
Whatever you use to pay your physiotherapist, rheumatologist, orthopedist — whoever you consulted to try to heal your back pain.
But, it doesn’t matter, because there is one more important thing.
Yes.
Even more important than saving dollars, euros, rupees, bitcoins...
You’ll forget about the back pain — at least it worked for me (I mean, I’m not a doctor).
But, if you don’t try, you’ll never know it.
That being said, if you want to stop reading, fair enough. Feel free.
But.
I am going to start telling you my case, as a software developer WFH…
Let’s get to the point:
When I was 16 and 17, in the summers, I worked in a door factory with my father.
Doors were heavy. Some doors were very, very heavy.
In my 20s, while in college, I delivered pizzas by motorcycle part-time. Lots of hours riding a bike.
Later on, I was promoted to manager, in that restaurant. Sounds cool, but I had to help pretty much in the kitchen.
At the age of 29, I started pivoting my carrer to software development.
Tons of hours sitting since then. And, not always with the best of postures.
I mean:
You can imagine how my poor back went through my 30s.
You know what?
You don’t have to imagine it:
I always have had back pain in some way. Some days more, some days less. But, tolerable most of the time.
When I was 35, I was feeling really really bad. I had daily back pain, but with an intensity and suddenness that I’ve never felt before. It was like a suddenly paralyzing pain when I was doing some movements, for example, just turning around laying in bed, it hurt as fuck.
Again, some days better, and some days worse. But, the bad days were really, really bad.
So, I went to the doctor—a rheumatologist.
I’m that kind of stupid human being that waits until there's no other choice to visit a doctor:
Don’t be like me.
After some RX and MRI, I was diagnosed with some fancy words:
Light scoliosis and narrow canal morphology with short pedicles. You just have seen it in the last picture.
The —kind of— good part: it was operable.
The —I guess— bad part: I wasn’t that bad nor that old to have a surgery.
So, was I fucked? Well, at that moment I thought it so.
But, it turns out that I was wrong…
Now I’m 37, and I don’t have back pain.
How I achieved it?
OK, listen.
I’m going to tell you the 5 things I did.
I’m going to tell you the 5 things I do.
And I’m going to sort them, from the most effective and cheaper, to the most expensive 👇
1. Strength training
Yes, lift weights.
Who would have imagined that if your back hurts, lifting weights would be the best solution?
And it works. Damn right it works.
And I mean, you don’t have to transform yourself in The Rock Dwayne Johnson.
It’s as easy as presenting your body in the fucking gym 3 times a week.
Or train at home if you have the equipment, do bodyweight training or calisthenics.
Whatever.
The important thing is: Lift weight. Build muscle. Develop strength.
This is going to give a 180-degree turn to your relationship with back pain.
There are millions of plans you can do. The Internet is full of them. You better ask for advice in your local gym if you are beginner. Ask the trainer to check you are doing a proper technique.
I do full body trainings in sessions 50 to 60 minutes sessions. That doesn’t necessary means that is the best option, but it works for me and they are easy to do.
I just ensure that in each session, I workout the following parts of the body:
- Legs
- Chest
- Biceps
- Triceps
- Shoulders
- Upper Back
- Abdominals
- Lumbars
I do one exercise for every zone. 3 sets of 12-10-8 reps, or 10-10-10, 12-12-12... it doesn’t matter. Just try to be near the limit at the last repetition of the last set.
Listen to your body.
A typical day could be:
- Squats
- Bench Press
- Curl Biceps
- Triceps Pulldown
- Shoulder Press
- Pull Ups
- Planks
- Lower Back Bench
I don’t do the same exercise two days in a row.
For example, if I did Squats in the last session, next session I’ll do dead lifts.
If I did pull ups, next session I’ll do face pulls.
Be consistent during a month and start enjoying the benefits
2. Daily stretching + foam roller
Stretch! Stretch! Stretch!
I know, I’m thinking the same as you: It couldn’t be more boring.
However, as many things in life, doing boring things consistently, with discipline, comes with extreme benefits.
I repeat.
EXTREME BENEFITS.
Because that’s what it is.
And you’ll start with tons of motivation day one, day two, less day three.
On day four you will be lazy as fuck but...
PLEASE: DISCIPLINE
Not only you will start having relief and less pain, it will increase your life quality.
You’ll gain agility and flexibility in everyday moves, you will perform better in the sports you practice. You’ll start feeling less tight.
I combine a 10 minute session at the end of the day—before dinner— with a couple of minutes applying a foam roller on my back.
I start stretching from bottom to top:
- Calf
- Quadriceps
- Hamstring
- Glute
- Psoas
- Knee-to-Chest Stretch
- Child’s Pose
- Cat/Cow Stretch
- Supine Twist
- Biceps
- Triceps
- Shoulders
- Chest
- Neck
Do each one for 30 seconds.
Once you are used to it you won’t last more than 10 minutes per session.
Finish the session with a bit of foam roller. This is kind of optional, but at least for me is quite relaxing for my back. Try it, there are plenty of them for around 20 bucks in Amazon.
Again, like in #1, be consistent for a month.
Drop me an email later telling me how you are feeling.
3. Hanging on a bar
This could be within #2, but I put it separate for a reason. It is because I do it several times a day.
Yes, I know what you are thinking:
“Mate, another fsdflsjañ thing to do...”
Well, calm down. Let me explain.
The only thing I want you to do is hanging on a bar for 30s.
Just that.
Just hang on a fucking bar.
You don’t have to do anything else. The Gravity will do the rest for you.
Ok, I know, if you are in a very bad shape maybe 30 seconds is too much for you.
No matter, do what you can. If 20, is good. If 15, is good.
You’ll improve over time until you’ll be able to reach a minute with ease.
So, do it 3 to 4 times a day.
For example:
You are coding and get up going to pee?
When you come back, hang 30 seconds.
You get up to grab another coffee?
Hang for 30 seconds while your coffee beans are grinding.
Hanging on a bar will decompress your spine.
Hanging on a bar will give you better shoulder health.
Hanging on a bar will improve your grip strength.
Do you know that stronger grip may be linked to increased longevity?
Google it, you’ll freak out.
I use for hanging a simple $15 bar for pull ups, but probably you have where to hang at home without having to spend a buck.
4. Standing desk
We are entering in a danger zone for your wallet.
The key in this point is prevent spending hours with the same posture, which in our case, is with the ass stick on a chair.
I got a standing desk from Autonomous a couple years ago. It was like $400.
Fortunately for your personal finances, they became trendy as hell so you can now get one way more affordable.
The key here isn’t spending hours working stand up—at least that’s not for me.
What I do is switching, for example, after an hour sitting, spend 15 minutes standing.
Then sit again, and repeat the cycles.
Your body will be so pleased that you give him a relief of being always with your ass sit.
5. Ergonomic chair
Your wallet will be freaking out at this moment.
You can stop reading here and you’ll have been increased your back health over9000.
That being said, if you want to nail it and complete the whole combo, an ergonomic chair is the cherry on top.
You won’t realize how like shrimp you were sitting until you place your ass on a good ergonomic chair.
The first days using one are quite weird. You’ll feel like you wasted your money because you are not that comfortable as you expected.
But, that’s good. Why?
Because the ergonomic chair is forcing you to sit in a good posture and your body isn’t used to it.
Be patient. Wait some days, a couple weeks. You’ll start getting more comfortable over time.
I’ll tell you a secret.
Since I got my ergonomic chair, I feel like I wouldn’t need to use the standing desk anymore. That’s the power of sitting well—but don’t do it, switching postures is better 😉
You don’t need to be a tryhard as I did. I went all-in and got a Herman Miller Embody.
I had to sell one kidney, but when it comes to my health I don’t care that much about saving money.
Probably, if have to buy an ergonomic chair now, I’ll go with something less expensive but that does the job as well.
There are very good options between the range of $600-$900, like the Haworth Soji. I recommend you checking out BTODtv Youtube channel, they do awesome reviews.
That was all. Se acabó. C’est fini. Acabouse.
That was all that end up fixing my back pain over years.
I stopped visiting physiotherapists, rheumatologists, orthopedists... I stopped wasting time.
I stopped wasting money.
If these words were somewhat useful for you, please, email me. You’ll make my day :)
Juanjo
I made this SwiftUI boilerplate to build iOS apps FAST 👇
I agree with this 100%! 👌 A few weeks ago I wrote similarly about how I lost my neck pain. Take care of your bodies, people!