“Will My Back Injury Lead to Back Pain Later?" Part 2 of 3

Jonathon Strefling, PT, DPT • Jan 19, 2022

Study: More than 50% of those who had an acute back injury reported recurring and chronic back pain 5 years later.

In part 2 of this 3-part series on acute back pain and what you can do about it, we will give you some tips on learning how to prevent it from coming back. If you recall, in part 1, we discussed the importance of learning the cause of your pain. In part 2, we are now assuming your pain is gone and you are back to your normal activities (yay)! But here's where we should take into account the above study - it will likely come back, especially if we are not doing anything to prevent it from doing so. Let's dive in to prevention:


#2: Learn how to prevent it. 


The first line of prevention is posture, and it is the most important piece of preventing pain from returning. Posture is a lifestyle, not simply an exercise. This will require taking regular inventory of how you are sitting & standing. It will be difficult and a little uncomfortable at first, but your body will adjust and learn to prefer this better positioning. I will be posting a future article focused on lumbar rolls and if they are helpful or not (hint: the short answer is yes).

Poor sitting posture



"Posture is a lifestyle, 


not simply an exercise."


Next, it's incredibly important to avoid remaining in the same position for very long stretches of time (1-2 hours). This particularly applies to sitting. When we sit, nearly all of our weight is loaded into our spine. But in standing, we've been designed with large leg muscles to absorb much of our weight, thus helping to unload our spine (Pop Quiz: What is the largest muscle in the body? Put your answer in the comments below - no cheating with Google).


Here's another important one to know: We are most vulnerable to injury in the first 4-5 hours of the day. One study showed that patients with chronic low back pain had significant improvements in back pain simply by reducing forward bending activities in the morning hours [1]. This is related to what happens to our discs (which are like cushions between our back bones) when we are laying down all night. So if possible, save your lifting and bending activities for later in the day.


Let's review our 3 ways to avoid a return episode of back pain:


  1. Posture, Posture, Posture
  2. Change position frequently
  3. Avoid bending activities in the morning


There are many other ways of preventing back pain from coming back depending on your specific alignment and areas of weakness. We can always help give you the specific tools you need with even just 1-2 visits. We love to help people steward their bodies well. Contact us if you would like more information.


For the final part of this 3-part series, we will be looking at what to do if it does come back.


SSMPT covers all of Kalamazoo County and parts of Van Buren and St Joseph counties.

By City: Galesburg - Kalamazoo - Marcellus - Mattawan - Paw Paw - Plainwell - Portage - Richland - Schoolcraft - Scotts - Three Rivers - Vicksburg


[1]  Spine: December 1, 1998 - Volume 23 - Issue 23 - p 2601-2607

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