Winter Back Pain
a blog by Hannah Emanuel, resident sports & clinical massage therapist and medical acupuncturist.
Why do I always feel back pain more in the winter?
Short answer: In the winter, we sit around a lot more, we move less. We also often then throw in an ambitious new January fitness regime!
Longer answer….
New Year’s resolutions aside, we tend to exercise less, mainly due to cold weather and fewer daylight hours.
As a result, our bodies get de-conditioned and does not maintain its strength and stability. The sitting position also increases the force through our back. The knock on effect is that we don’t stretch out our muscles regularly, causing muscle tightness and joint stiffness.
The cold makes us shiver, this can result in increased muscle tension in the back, we also raise our shoulders, all this extra tension in our muscles can make them tighter and more painful.
We often gain weight in winter due to eating more and exercising less, causing increased stress on the lower back.
Dehydration also plays a part. We tend to drink less water, it’s cold, unappealing and we don’t feel as thirsty at lower temperatures! When the discs in your back get dehydrated, they are less equipped to share the load, therefore more force goes through the other structure of our back.
What can we do?
Be more active, even if it’s getting up from your desk every 30mins/1hour to have a stretch.
Eat more healthily.
Stay hydrated. You don’t have to drink cold water, find a drink that you find comforting, hot water with lemon, decaffeinated tea, it all helps.
Check your posture… Here are a few things to think about with your desk posture:
Sit up with your back straight, shoulders back. Your buttocks should touch the back of the chair.
Use a small rolled up towel or lumbar roll to maintain the curve in the small of your back.
Distribute your body weight evenly on both hips.
Bend your knees at 90 degrees. Keep your knees at the same height as your hips. If you need a footstool to achieve this, that’s fine!
Keep your feet flat on the floor. Don’t cross your legs.
Check your screen height, it should be at eye level. If it isn’t either raise your chair or your screen to help with this.
If you sit in a chair that moves, don’t twist at the waist to move, move your whole body.
When standing up from sitting, move to the front of the chair and push up on your legs to stand avoid bending forwards to stand.
Stretch your back out every time you get up.
Dress warmly. Keep the shivers to a minimum to decrease the tension in your back and shoulders from bracing against the cold.