Current Events > I dunno if you need to hear this, but your back isn't sore because you're old.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Assuming you're a fairly typical poster here and you're someone in your mid-30s and you're able-bodied and uninjured, but you have back pain.

Nor is it sore because of your posture. Humans requiring a specific posture to stand or sit at is nonsense.

It's sore because it's weak. It's tired. it's sore like your forearms get sore when you carry all the shopping inside in one trip. You have a weak back, so any time you use it at all it gets sore.

The reason your back was sore from gardening or carrying boxes or doing any activity isn't because you're past your prime and that's just normal for someone in your grand old age. It's just because you don't do any activity and now you've done activity and it's sore. That's the same kind of sore you get when you do some squats and your legs are sore. You did something you're not used to. It's no different for your back.

If you want to fix your chronic back pain, try training it. Do some deadlifts. Do some rows. Lift some stuff occasionally. Your back pain will largely go away. Ta-da.

Which gym hired you

I expected TC to try and sell us a MyPillow at the end.

Vegy posted...

Which gym hired you

He isn't wrong. I used to feel sore and tired from just kind of vaguely existing physically, then transitioned to a full-blown hour workout four days a week in addition to other added physical activity.

The difference it's made in how my body feels is crazy. I hate working out, but it's worth it to keep the benefits.

Everyone always told me "You'll see. You'll start falling apart at 30, 35, 40, etc." I'm still waiting on it. Besides when I was specifically training for things, I'm all around in the best shape of my life.

Jiek_Fafn posted...

Everyone always told me "You'll see. You'll start falling apart at 30, 35, 40, etc." I'm still waiting on it. Besides when I was specifically training for things, I'm all around in the best shape of my life.

If you follow the typical life path of an elder millenial, gen Xer or boomer then sure - you will fall apart. Because just doing less each year and decade will cause such an incredible amount of atrophy that you'll find basic every day tasks unmanageable by the time you reach 40.

It's such a huge lie that people tell themselves, like it's somehow normal to not be able to move around in a basic way before even half your life is over.

I don't in fact need to hear that. But then again, I'm always telling people stuff they don't need or want to hear. So I ain't gonna throw any stones.

People live like shit and eat like shit and then act like 30 is a normal age to be falling apart.

I was lazy af in my twenties and thirties, and i didnt atrophy one bit. I only started getting more active when I got my first pacemaker at the ripe old age of 42.

TC is right. Im 37. I have some aches and pains but theyre all related to injuries that I can pinpoint. If your body is just generally failing in your thirties, its probably because you didnt look after it.

Went to get my physical yesterday for the first time since 2020 and the doctor was surprised I was 35. I still feel the same I always have just slightly weaker since I'm not as active as I used to be.

I figure you just need to do the bare minimum of staying somewhat active to be fine as you get older. I go to the gym maybe twice a week at most for 30 mins. Also while I eat stupid shit here and there, usually it's balanced meals and watching out for too much sugar.

Look I'm 50. I've had a farm since my mid 20's. I've been stepped on and knocked over multiple times. I've broken ribs on both side in the front and both sides of my back. I've loaded 120 50# bags of feed off a flatbed truck every 2 weeks for 20 something years. I've carried thousands of 8 foot 4x4 over many a acre. I've thrown many a hay bale. I've also have had shingles on my back and neck. My pain is from working hard all my life mostly. It's really not that I'm old.

vycebrand2 posted...

Look I'm 50. I've had a farm since my mid 20's. I've been stepped on and knocked over multiple times. I've broken ribs on both side in the front and both sides of my back. I've loaded 120 50# bags of feed off a flatbed truck every 2 weeks for 20 something years. I've carried thousands of 8 foot 4x4 over many a acre. I've thrown many a hay bale. I've also have had shingles on my back and neck. My pain is from working hard all my life mostly. It's really not that I'm old.

this topic ain't aimed at you

vycebrand2 posted...

Look I'm 50. I've had a farm since my mid 20's. I've been stepped on and knocked over multiple times. I've broken ribs on both side in the front and both sides of my back. I've loaded 120 50# bags of feed off a flatbed truck every 2 weeks for 20 something years. I've carried thousands of 8 foot 4x4 over many a acre. I've thrown many a hay bale. I've also have had shingles on my back and neck. My pain is from working hard all my life mostly. It's really not that I'm old.

You own a farm, but dont have a pickup? I am trying to understand why anyone would carry 8 foot 4x4s over many an acre, which by thy way is not a unit of distance.

mustachedmystic posted...

You own a farm, but dont have a pickup? I am trying to understand why anyone would carry 8 foot 4x4s over many an acre, which by thy way is not a unit of distance.

For example I park the truck at a fence line instead of stopping to get out at every broken fence I would park about every 500 feet and take it where ever it was needed. Most fencelines had 15-20 broken at once.

No it's because I have a very mild form of spina bifida.

I probably hurt my lower back from doing flips without properly conditioning my core
Oh I did other things too for sure. calisthenics related. At 16/17 I had lower back pain

The pain only flares up sometimes these days. Can go a year or so without noticing. Did recently (wanna say around 6 months ago) flare up from picking up my 10-12 pound dog. Hurt for 3 days

Spoken like somebody with an office job

Tc is right. I'm 34 and even overweight af and always have been and don't have the typical aches and pains people complain of. Ever since I got a more physically active job I've felt better than I did in my early 20s doing retail and et cetera. Working out has helped even more. I get nowhere near as tired or sore as I used to.

Of course it's not a one size fits all thing.

Standing all day is why I hurt all the time.

TheSavageDragon posted...

Spoken like somebody with an office job

If you're shifting boxes all day or something then yeah, no brainer why your back is sore.

But there is a real pandemic of people who do exactly zero movement at all who are pretty sure that having a sore back all the time at 32 is just what ageing looks like.

My favorite quote from The Twilight Zone:

Do we stop playing Kick the Can because we get old, or do we get old because we stop playing Kick the Can?

I kicked the can across many an acre myself

No posture is definitely a factor. I have a boring job so I'm hunched over looking at my phone a lot and I feel it. Only takes a few minutes of leaning back in a desk chair and letting my head fall all the way back for some relief though.

I'm in the gym 3-4 days a week and play recreational soccer once a week.
The only thing that's really degraded for me is my recovery time after physical activity. Can't believe I used to be 20 and playing soccer or basketball multiple days in a row without really feeling it. Much harder now. Maybe it just means I need to do even more physical activity, but

Sufferedphoenix posted...

No posture is definitely a factor. I have a boring job so I'm hunched over looking at my phone a lot and I feel it. Only takes a few minutes of leaning back in a desk chair and letting my head fall all the way back for some relief though.

What you're feeling there is the benefit of movement. It's not that pulling your shoulders back and sitting up straight is good for your back. It's that moving is good for your spine.

If you say still in that upright shoulders back position all day, you'd feel relief by hunching forward too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUSyMqDUkv8

Evidence based physio crowd: "Your next posture is your best posture".

vycebrand2 posted...

For example I park the truck at a fence line instead of stopping to get out at every broken fence I would park about every 500 feet and take it where ever it was needed. Most fencelines had 15-20 broken at once.

Man you need a good side by side and a small trailer.

Also,posture is a huge deal. My lower back aches went away after I bought a small firm pillow for my chair.

TheSavageDragon posted...

Spoken like somebody with an office job

I do not have an office job.

Tc is correct

I used to have a lot of upper back pain for years that went away completely when I started training pull ups.

You're mostly right, but posture can absolutely play a big part too. My back pain basically vanished after getting a nice chair for my home setup. For office workers specifically, simply having your monitor and peripherals set up properly goes hard for stopping some forms of chronic pain.

47 and in the best muscular shape of my life

emblem-man posted...

I'm in the gym 3-4 days a week and play recreational soccer once a week.
The only thing that's really degraded for me is my recovery time after physical activity. Can't believe I used to be 20 and playing soccer or basketball multiple days in a row without really feeling it. Much harder now. Maybe it just means I need to do even more physical activity, but

This is a legit thing about aging though. Young me could get hit by a car and just take a nap. Then be fine like I'm Wolverine. Now it's at least a weekend of being laid up if I am injured.

Here my unscientific theory to counter yours, humans havent evolved to totally stand upright yet, right now we should be running around like gorillas and our back pain will go away that might slow down the evolving to pain free upright mobility, but thats the trade off

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Hmm. Need a pic now

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

wow making me shy, but I can't hold a candle to someone who is eternally 15!

Jiek_Fafn posted...

This is a legit thing about aging though. Young me could get hit by a car and just take a nap. Then be fine like I'm Wolverine. Now it's at least a weekend of being laid up if I am injured.

Yeah, recovery time and metabolism have been affected by age for me, but that doesnt really contradict TCs view.

my back is sore because of my hereditary idiopathic scoliosis

the spot between my shoulder blades doesn't hurt really, but i feel like it would be the crack of all cracks if i could manipulate it somehow.

The problem is that we're using it wrong. It's meant to be horizontal. We're using it vertically...

TC is very right, although I'd argue posture does affect your back. But what he said applies to most soreness in your back/shoulder/neck area (obviously not extraordinary genetic or medical conditions). When you "lift with your back" instead of your legs, it strains your back because it's literally too weak to bear the load you place on it. That's your legs that should be bearing the majority of the load.

Our backs often tighten up out of weakness because our muscles want to create that stability that isn't there. What poor posture can do is stretch the back muscles for long periods of time and thus weakening them. Think of a rubberband, if you stretch it out and keep it that way eventually it'll weaken and become slack or looser when you bring it back to it's rested state. If not snap.

Pinky, you say this all as someone without a Crooked Mouth.

Meow!! >^_<<

Glob posted...

Yeah, recovery time and metabolism have been affected by age for me, but that doesnt really contradict TCs view.

While we're at it, research shows that metabolism doesn't change much at all as you age from your 20s to your 60s.

It's everything else that changes. Your diet, your lifestyle, your habits. When you were 20 you were broke, worked a hospitality job and found the taste of beer icky.

When you're 35 you buy all the snacks you want, you work an office job and get in less than 3000 steps a day and you finish off each evening with a crisp pale ale.

Finally (and often, the only actual reason), time. Maybe you were putting on weight your entire adult life, very slowly. 2lbs a year. You never noticed it was so gradual. Well 15 years have gone past now and you're 30lbs heavier. Go figure.

Why are my shoulders sore

Waddlez posted...

Why are my shoulders sore

Need more context. Shoulder blades or the delts area? Likely weakness in the rotator cuff or something. Or is it the joint?

pinky0926 posted...

While we're at it, research shows that metabolism doesn't change much at all as you age from your 20s to your 60s.

I can't believe that. I'm taking my health more seriously than ever, but the calories no longer disappear into what was formerly a nuclear reactor of a metabolism.

Guide posted...

I can't believe that. I'm taking my health more seriously than ever, but the calories no longer disappear into what was formerly a nuclear reactor of a metabolism.

https://tinyurl.com/22y65vv9
The data suggest that our metabolisms dont really start to decline again until after age 60. The slowdown is gradual, only 0.7% a year. But a person in their 90s needs 26% fewer calories each day than someone in midlife.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/surprising-findings-about-metabolism-and-age-202110082613
Adulthood (20 to 60 years): Total and basal expenditure and fat-free mass were all stable from ages 20 to 60, regardless of sex. Adjusted TEE and RMR remained stable even during pregnancy, and any increase in unadjusted energy expenditure during pregnancy was accounted for by the increase in body mass. The point at which adjusted TEE started to decline was age 63, and for adjusted BMR was age 46.5 (although the researchers indicate a small number of BMR measurements reduced their confidence in this estimate).

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abe5017

There's a lot of reasons why you find it harder to lose weight now that you're older (aside from the other things I mentioned, maybe you just have more fat cells now), but it's almost certainly not because your basal metabolic rate has significantly changed.