If you have chronic lower back pain—meaning a nagging ache has persisted for 12 weeks or more—you may be tempted to throw a bunch of Dr. Google remedies into a bag, shake it up, and start drawing at random. Before you go that unscientific—but understandably desperate—route, know this: The World Health Organization (WHO) released guidelines in 2023 that aim to demystify the dizzying array of options that promise to put an end to the hurt.
We asked doctors for their back pain tips, and for insight into some of the WHO’s top recs. So, let’s forget the remedy roulette and stick with the science, shall we?
Kaleigh Levine was running drills in the gym with her lacrosse team at Notre Dame College in South Euclid, Ohio, when everything turned black.
“The coach wanted me to get back in the line, but I couldn’t see,” she remembered.
Her vision returned after a few minutes, but several months and a half-dozen medical specialists later, the 20-year-old goalie was diagnosed with a mysterious condition known as POTS.
“Forget Chanel, Dior or Prada: This year, the most prominent designers on the red carpet are Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, whose injectable weight-loss drugs are the new couture.”
Hollywood trainers have clients stuck in the bathroom with nausea and vomiting, restaurants are down as no one is hungry and even plastic surgeons are losing their liposuction business, although they now are doing post-#Ozempic body sculpting.
Some men are throwing in testosterone, with added risks (maybe Jeff Bezos, Musk?)
Editors Note: Most of the stuff people are doing in Hollywood is NOT smart. Best to stay with a good diet and exercise to stay healthy!
One of my frequent admonishments to patients is to only eat what God makes (or just avoid anything with a bar code — until a patient reminded me that fruit and vegetables are bar coded 😂)
“A review of research involving almost 10 million people has found a direct association between eating too many ultra-processed foods — those breads, cereals, snacks and frozen meals that have been industrially manufactured with flavors and additives to make them more palatable — and more than 30 health conditions, including heart disease, anxiety and early death.”
“0Exercise your body, eat fiber-rich foods, stay social and do hard things. These are some of the habits of “SuperAgers.” They are the “Betty Whites of the world,” says Emily Rogalski, a cognitive neuroscientist at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.”
f the time or energy you have to move your body is limited—or maybe you’re just easing into this whole fitness thing—rather than rushing through a complicated, multi-part workout, a better strategy can be honing in on just a few specific exercises to prevent injuries and common problems like back pain. Because, although there are hundreds of moves out there with different benefits for your body, you don’t need to do them all to stay healthy and pain-free.
Plank
One of the most loved and hated core exercises around gets top billing in this list. “Planks work your core stability and endurance, which helps with overall balance and stability as well as protecting your spine,”
Directions: Hold your body in the top of a push-up position. Aim to hold for 60 seconds at a time.
Step-ups
Exaggerating the act of going upstairs by working one leg at a time is a great way to build strength and balance.
Directions: Using the bottom of a staircase or a sturdy four- to eight-inch tall step stool, step up onto one leg. Place your hands on a railing, counter, or other surface if you feel imbalanced. Slowly lower yourself back down, then step back up. Repeat 10 to 15 times for three sets on each leg.
Side-lying hip abduction
Dr. Behenna says she has seen dramatic improvement in clients when they learn to activate and strengthen their glutes, and these leg lifts are a great way to target the gluteus medius in particular.
Directions: Lie down on one side of your body. Bend the bottom knee and keep the top knee straight. Lift the top, straight leg in the air, keeping your heel slightly behind your hip. Lower back down. Repeat 10 to 15 times, for three sets.
Heel and toe raises
Working your calves will help keep you mobile by building strength and lengthening these often tight, knotted muscles. You’ll also activate the small muscles in your feet to help create a stable base for walking.
Directions: Stand next to a counter or railing, holding on with both hands for balance only. Rise up onto your toes, then lower back down. Repeat 30 times, for two sets. Next, keep your heels down and lift your toes up, and repeat 30 times, for two sets.
Hamstring and calf stretches
These stretches are the complement to those heel raises and step ups you just did.
Directions: To stretch your hamstring, sit sideways on the edge of a couch with the outside foot on the floor and the inside leg straight in front of you on the couch. Keeping your knee and back straight, lean forward until you feel a stretch on the back of the thigh. Hold that stretch anywhere from 15 to 30 seconds and repeat three to five times on each leg.
The study found that people who practiced a simplified form of tai chi called Tai Ji Quan twice a week for about six months improved their score by 1.5 points. This increase may not sound like a lot, but study author Dr. Elizabeth Eckstrom says “you’ve basically given yourself three extra years” of staving off decline. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
A person with mild cognitive decline can expect to lose, on average, about a half point each year on the test, and once their score drops under 18, people experience quite a bit of impairment from memory loss and cognitive decline, Eckstrom explains.
So, based on these results, “if you’re able to keep doing [tai chi] two or three days a week on a routine basis, you’re going to get extra years before you hit that decline into dementia,” she says.
“After setting out to pinpoint the minimum amount of movement needed to offset the harms of our sedentary lives, Columbia University Medical Center researchers found that five minutes of gentle walking every half an hour does the trick.” https://apple.news/AtphLTZHoRDy_rw0xp8O-BQ
CNMRI: Neurology, Sleep Medicine, MRI 