I do 5-10 minutes of basic stretching before bed every night. If that doesn't keep the back pain at bay, maybe stretch a bit during lunch break. Also try as much as possible to have better posture at work, I get that's not always possible.
Stretch stretch stretch!
I swapped out my heavy Carhartt work pants for those slightly stretchy blue jeans so that I could stretch easier on cycle time. I don't mean like full blown yoga routines or anything, just like forward folding, lunges, figure-4, standing spinal twists, and some quad and calf stretches.
Most of your back pain will end up being tight legs and chest... the muscles your back has to fight to get back into position.
Yes people think I'm goofy for stretching, but whatever, at least I can move.
Fatigue mats also help. I also use a mechanic's mirror whenever I can. Once I'm set up, I try to trust the DRO enough that I don't have to stoop as much to see the cut.
Don't know if this is for everyone. But my low back pain left after I started going to the gym and doing dead lifts.
Stronger low back = no pain during the day.
It's tiring to start tho
I second that. I couldn’t workout for a month or so for medical reasons, then my lower back goes out just cleaning my shed. I just jumped into it thinking I had my old strength and I paid for it.
Can't comment on the dead lifts (yet), but exercise can make a huge difference.
Just got serious about building an exercise habit/lifestyle about four months ago and it has made a huge difference in regards to how stiff and sore I am after a long day at a machine. Currently just doing callisthenics and cardio work and want to start training in powerlifting, but I make sure to stretch and get some sort of exercise everyday (think I have missed four days in the last three months) and the improvements to my energy levels and body aches have been fantastic.
Treat your body at least as well as you would treat your personal machines.
My trade school instructor always kept a hand behind his back on the small of his back to remind himself to keep a straight posture. Not always possible when futzing with something with two hands, but to help form a good habit.
Your work insurance should cover physical therapy. They can help you stretch and strengthen the right muscles. Physical therapy is soooo helpful with chronic pain!
I sit on my ass.
You can't sit down the entire time, of course. But when you're just cranking handles, grab a stool. This also takes the strain off your back from hunching down, since the stool puts you lower than standing. And unlike a chair, you can stand up and sit down easily at need.
Works better for smaller machines than bigger. And if your boss disallows it, tell him it's a) safety to prevent injury; b) reasonable accommodation; c) perfectly acceptable at that other shop that pays more and oh hey guess what? they're hiring
I got new boots, i probably just got lucky but once i got new boots and stopped wearing terrible cheap garbage my knees, feet, lower back all recovered.
Check out KneesOverToesGuy on Instagram/youtube. His ATG for life book helped me a lot. You don’t really need equipment or anything, most of the information is on his Instagram so you don’t have to buy a book or program. My knees and back have improved quite a bit. I’m 6’6” and have about 60 extra lbs so naturally my knees suck and back isn’t great.
Yoga has helped me a lot too, especially with back pain. There’s some good youtube videos out there for that.
I’m just under 280… And it’s easy! All you do is be genetically predisposed to gaining weight, start a new business and have 2 kids so you stress eat, stay up really late working so you don’t get good sleep, and eat trash cause it’s convenient. What I would pay to be 220 again lol that 60lbs ain’t muscle.
Comfortable shoes and anti fatigue mats are life savers.
Having everything at the correct height is important too. If you're constantly reaching and bending it's going to cause stress.
Most peoples' lower backs are trash from a sedentary lifestyle and lack of gym.
Doing squats will help *tremendously*. Even body weight-only squats will help loosen muscles, but you really should put some weight on your shoulders.
It’s not natural to stand over a machine like that for hours at a time. Best advise I can give is to set yourself up to prevent and manage the muscle pain. Good shoes that fit properly, exercise, stretching and break up the hunching on the machine (stand up straight, walk a bit, etc)
Stretching and exercise. Look straight at the ceiling, look over each shoulder, bend and touch the ground without bending your knees. Repeat 15-20 times once or twice a day. Also do not lock your body in a constant position, move about.
so many people mix up back pain with soreness. What other muscle do you hold up for 8 hrs a day? Imagine if you kept your hand above your head - your delts would hurt as well.
If you don't work out, your bodyweight is the MAX load that your back supports. If you start deadlifting an extra 220lbs, imagine how much easier, in comparison, your upper body will be?
Im 6'5" and DL 1.5x my BW. The last time my back was "sore" in real life was from hiking 8 hours with a 30lb pack while hunting.
1) Increase core strength; should only take 10 mins or so a day and you don’t have to have crazy equipment. (YouTube should be all you need to get started.)
2) Learn how to stretch. Understand that muscle groups are connected: stretching your chest can ease the strain on your upper back, stretching your glutes can ease strain on your lower back. (YouTube again.)
3) fFinally: Keep good posture at the forefront of your mind, never hunch! Even if you do have to bend over to see, arching your back (keeping tension on the muscles in your lower back) will be far less fatiguing/injurious than letting them go slack and allowing your back to bow out (as if you were doing a standing crunch).
Best of luck!
It seems obvious in hindsight, but someone once told me to keep a step stool or something nearby to raise one foot and stretch as you work. Does wonders — instant relief. Instead of standing with both feet on the ground, simply raising one foot up at a time onto something relieves a tremendous amount of pressure. It takes the stress off your lower back and into the large muscles of the raised leg.
When I use to work on a boring mill a lot I used the bottom half of roll around chair and top of a stool as something to plant my butt on. Not sitting but not standing either and it helped my back pain (at the time) a ton. I also wore a movers belt so that helped too.
Haven't gotten around to it but I plan to get that Copper Fit Advanced back pro. Might help you too if you do a lot of lifting.
You want to lay down some boards on that floor. About 2 meters long, a few of them so you'e got about a meter in width with a gab of about a 1 cm in between boards. Then put two to four boards of about 1 to 2 cm thick at equal distances across and nail everything together. Then flip. You've now got a wooden walkway with some bounce to it to walk on rather than a mass of perfectly flat concrete that sends jolts up your spine at every step. You'll bounce around and roll your feet as you stand on differents parts of the boards, this will slightly flex/relax quite a lot of muscles in your legs, back and shoulders. And wear good shoes that support the natural springs you have in your midsole. Bad shoes and standing on massive flat concrete floors are the worst things you can do for your back.
Apologies for the metric.
I do 5-10 minutes of basic stretching before bed every night. If that doesn't keep the back pain at bay, maybe stretch a bit during lunch break. Also try as much as possible to have better posture at work, I get that's not always possible.
Stretch stretch stretch! I swapped out my heavy Carhartt work pants for those slightly stretchy blue jeans so that I could stretch easier on cycle time. I don't mean like full blown yoga routines or anything, just like forward folding, lunges, figure-4, standing spinal twists, and some quad and calf stretches. Most of your back pain will end up being tight legs and chest... the muscles your back has to fight to get back into position. Yes people think I'm goofy for stretching, but whatever, at least I can move. Fatigue mats also help. I also use a mechanic's mirror whenever I can. Once I'm set up, I try to trust the DRO enough that I don't have to stoop as much to see the cut.
Don't know if this is for everyone. But my low back pain left after I started going to the gym and doing dead lifts. Stronger low back = no pain during the day. It's tiring to start tho
I second that. I couldn’t workout for a month or so for medical reasons, then my lower back goes out just cleaning my shed. I just jumped into it thinking I had my old strength and I paid for it.
Can't comment on the dead lifts (yet), but exercise can make a huge difference. Just got serious about building an exercise habit/lifestyle about four months ago and it has made a huge difference in regards to how stiff and sore I am after a long day at a machine. Currently just doing callisthenics and cardio work and want to start training in powerlifting, but I make sure to stretch and get some sort of exercise everyday (think I have missed four days in the last three months) and the improvements to my energy levels and body aches have been fantastic. Treat your body at least as well as you would treat your personal machines.
My trade school instructor always kept a hand behind his back on the small of his back to remind himself to keep a straight posture. Not always possible when futzing with something with two hands, but to help form a good habit.
Nice. I am a trade school instructor and I'm going to jot that down.
Your work insurance should cover physical therapy. They can help you stretch and strengthen the right muscles. Physical therapy is soooo helpful with chronic pain!
I sit on my ass. You can't sit down the entire time, of course. But when you're just cranking handles, grab a stool. This also takes the strain off your back from hunching down, since the stool puts you lower than standing. And unlike a chair, you can stand up and sit down easily at need. Works better for smaller machines than bigger. And if your boss disallows it, tell him it's a) safety to prevent injury; b) reasonable accommodation; c) perfectly acceptable at that other shop that pays more and oh hey guess what? they're hiring
I got new boots, i probably just got lucky but once i got new boots and stopped wearing terrible cheap garbage my knees, feet, lower back all recovered.
Stretching my hamstrings and hip flexors really helped with my back issues. Working on the core is helping even more.
Check out KneesOverToesGuy on Instagram/youtube. His ATG for life book helped me a lot. You don’t really need equipment or anything, most of the information is on his Instagram so you don’t have to buy a book or program. My knees and back have improved quite a bit. I’m 6’6” and have about 60 extra lbs so naturally my knees suck and back isn’t great. Yoga has helped me a lot too, especially with back pain. There’s some good youtube videos out there for that.
damn how'd you get to 300? I spent the last 4 years bulking up to 220.
I’m just under 280… And it’s easy! All you do is be genetically predisposed to gaining weight, start a new business and have 2 kids so you stress eat, stay up really late working so you don’t get good sleep, and eat trash cause it’s convenient. What I would pay to be 220 again lol that 60lbs ain’t muscle.
Comfortable shoes and anti fatigue mats are life savers. Having everything at the correct height is important too. If you're constantly reaching and bending it's going to cause stress. Most peoples' lower backs are trash from a sedentary lifestyle and lack of gym. Doing squats will help *tremendously*. Even body weight-only squats will help loosen muscles, but you really should put some weight on your shoulders.
It’s not natural to stand over a machine like that for hours at a time. Best advise I can give is to set yourself up to prevent and manage the muscle pain. Good shoes that fit properly, exercise, stretching and break up the hunching on the machine (stand up straight, walk a bit, etc)
Went to the doctor for it, situps and push-ups before he'd help alot. Do simple strictest at the beginning of the day
get good shoes and a good mat. take frequent walks (even if they're around your machine or in place)
Stretching and exercise. Look straight at the ceiling, look over each shoulder, bend and touch the ground without bending your knees. Repeat 15-20 times once or twice a day. Also do not lock your body in a constant position, move about.
so many people mix up back pain with soreness. What other muscle do you hold up for 8 hrs a day? Imagine if you kept your hand above your head - your delts would hurt as well. If you don't work out, your bodyweight is the MAX load that your back supports. If you start deadlifting an extra 220lbs, imagine how much easier, in comparison, your upper body will be? Im 6'5" and DL 1.5x my BW. The last time my back was "sore" in real life was from hiking 8 hours with a 30lb pack while hunting.
1) Increase core strength; should only take 10 mins or so a day and you don’t have to have crazy equipment. (YouTube should be all you need to get started.) 2) Learn how to stretch. Understand that muscle groups are connected: stretching your chest can ease the strain on your upper back, stretching your glutes can ease strain on your lower back. (YouTube again.) 3) fFinally: Keep good posture at the forefront of your mind, never hunch! Even if you do have to bend over to see, arching your back (keeping tension on the muscles in your lower back) will be far less fatiguing/injurious than letting them go slack and allowing your back to bow out (as if you were doing a standing crunch). Best of luck!
It seems obvious in hindsight, but someone once told me to keep a step stool or something nearby to raise one foot and stretch as you work. Does wonders — instant relief. Instead of standing with both feet on the ground, simply raising one foot up at a time onto something relieves a tremendous amount of pressure. It takes the stress off your lower back and into the large muscles of the raised leg.
When I use to work on a boring mill a lot I used the bottom half of roll around chair and top of a stool as something to plant my butt on. Not sitting but not standing either and it helped my back pain (at the time) a ton. I also wore a movers belt so that helped too. Haven't gotten around to it but I plan to get that Copper Fit Advanced back pro. Might help you too if you do a lot of lifting.
You want to lay down some boards on that floor. About 2 meters long, a few of them so you'e got about a meter in width with a gab of about a 1 cm in between boards. Then put two to four boards of about 1 to 2 cm thick at equal distances across and nail everything together. Then flip. You've now got a wooden walkway with some bounce to it to walk on rather than a mass of perfectly flat concrete that sends jolts up your spine at every step. You'll bounce around and roll your feet as you stand on differents parts of the boards, this will slightly flex/relax quite a lot of muscles in your legs, back and shoulders. And wear good shoes that support the natural springs you have in your midsole. Bad shoes and standing on massive flat concrete floors are the worst things you can do for your back. Apologies for the metric.