Lower back pain when standing up is caused by stiffness in the chest and legs
Lower back pain when you stand up is caused by stiffness in your chest and legs.
The lower back connects the upper and lower body, so when movement in the chest or legs becomes poor, the lower back is in a position where it is easily affected. In that sense, lower back pain is the lower back’s cry from where it is caught between the chest and legs: “I can’t keep taking over the work that your chest and legs are supposed to be doing.”
The bones of the lower back are good at forward-and-backward movements, such as bending forward and arching backward. On the other hand, they are not good at twisting movements, such as turning to look behind you. The lower back can twist only about 5 degrees.
That is where the legs and chest come in. The body’s rotation when you turn around, or the dynamic rotation used when throwing a ball, is created by the hip joints, spine, and neck helping one another and working together.
But one day, movement in the chest and legs starts to decline, and before long you can no longer bend or turn the way you want. Then the joints and muscles of the lower back begin taking on work they were never meant to do in order to make up for that lost movement.
At first, the lower back may cope well enough. But as fatigue builds, it gradually loses that ability. Pain is the way your lower back appeals to you, asking your chest and legs to recover their original function.
This illustration shows how pain can develop through desk work.
Keeping your arms extended in front of you for long periods makes the shoulders and chest stiff, and flexible movement is gradually lost. At the same time, staying seated causes the hip joints to stiffen in a bent position, which also limits their natural freedom of movement.
When you stand up while the upper and lower body remain stiff, excessive movement is forced into the lower back caught between them. If this is repeated every day, it will eventually lead to lower back pain.
Even if you do not work at a desk, driving or sports can reduce mobility in the shoulders and chest. People who spend a lot of time standing may also have limited hip joint movement.
You may have tried sitting on a cushion designed to stabilize the pelvis, or taken a more active approach with running or stretching. If none of that has fully solved the problem, it is because the parts of your body that should be moving are not moving properly.
To resolve lower back pain when standing up, you need to identify which part of the body is not moving well and stretch the muscles that are limiting that movement.
- Tried changing chairs or cushions but did not improve.
- Have tried stretching
- Exercise regularly, such as running or yoga
- Have received treatments such as massage
The key to solving this problem is understanding your body’s habits.
This illustration shows a shoulder movement test.
If the arms do not lift straight overhead, it suggests there may be distortion in the position of the shoulder blades or a problem with movement in the shoulder joints.
Ideally, the hands should rise directly above the head, and from the side, the arms should cover the ears.
Now let’s see how your body reacts when you try to raise your arms to the height they are supposed to reach.
When you try to raise your arms straight overhead, your lower back arches. This is the result of the lower back taking over a movement that should normally be handled by the shoulders and chest. Increasing the curve in the lower back more than usual places strain on its joints and muscles.
Distortion is an individual trait that shows up through the way you use your body. People always choose the ways of moving that feel easiest and most efficient. Muscles that stop being used because they feel difficult to move gradually weaken, and that appears as distortion.
For example, computer work keeps your arms raised in front of your chest for long periods. Over time, your body starts to think, “It’s too much trouble to lift my arms from my sides every time I use the computer.”
Seeking efficiency, the body gradually changes the position of the shoulder blades and arms so that it becomes easier to reach forward, turning itself into a posture suited to desk work.
Using tests to identify distortion helps you understand your body’s habits, and that provides important clues for finding a solution.
Treatment record
Let’s look at a treatment record to see the steps through which lower back pain when standing up can improve.
- Symptoms: Lower back pain when standing up from a chair. Once standing and after taking a few steps, the pain disappears.
- Age: 40s
- Work: Uses a computer all day
- What they had tried: A cushion to support the pelvis upright, stretching, squats, massage
If we arrange the events so far in chronological order, the sequence looks like this:
- Was told the pelvis was tilted backward
- Was told weak glute muscles were causing the pelvic distortion
- Started squats and stretching
- Began using a cushion intended to correct the pelvis around the same time
- Improved, but the problem returned
- Is now looking for a way to solve the pelvic distortion
After being told the pelvis was tilted, the patient repeatedly went through trial and error focused specifically on the pelvis.
Various tests are performed to identify the cause. Different parts of the body each have a normal range of movement. For example, if you tilt your head back to look at the ceiling and your face can become almost parallel with the ceiling, then there is no problem with neck movement.
If a part of the body cannot move as it should, or if movement is clearly more difficult in one direction than another, that can be identified as a cause of pain.
Test results
The examination revealed problems with side-bending and twisting movements.
Comparing the movement of the back muscles on the left and right sides shows that the right side is stiff.
The reason is that the muscles on the two sides of the back are not being used in the same way.
The case notes reveal two things:
The muscles on the left side are stronger than those on the right.
- The muscles on the right side are in a shortened state. These two factors make it difficult to bend to the left.
Stiffness in the back muscles alone can affect movement throughout the entire body.
In the upper body, it becomes harder to raise the arms because the back muscles are connected to them.
In addition, because this also promotes a rounded upper back, it becomes harder to look behind you or look upward, which further reduces upper-body mobility.
In the lower body, being better at moving the pelvis sideways on only one side affects stride length during walking and creates tension in the right leg. This contributes to lower back pain and makes standing for long periods difficult.
Although the patient complains of lower back pain, I do not touch the lower back from the outset. There are two reasons for this.
① It can worsen inflammation and increase the number of visits needed
Massaging the lower back briefly improves circulation, so it can feel good in the moment. However, the muscles producing the pain are inflamed, and pressing on them can aggravate that inflammation. As a result, the pain may continue constantly, and during treatment it becomes impossible to tell whether the symptoms are actually improving or not changing at all.
If that happens, you cannot judge improvement on the spot, and you end up saying, “That’s all for today. Please wait and see how it goes,” which leads to more visits. That is not desirable because it increases the burden on the patient.
② The cause is not where the pain is felt
When lower back pain appears, the real cause is often hidden far away in the neck, shoulders, or legs. Massaging the lower back may feel pleasant, but it does not solve the problem at its root.
In some cases, the painful muscles are not muscles that should simply be loosened. If that is the case, the more they are treated, the worse the pain becomes.
For these two reasons, even when the patient reports pain in the lower back, I do not begin by touching the lower back.
Treatment details
Here I will introduce a treatment approach that is unique to seitai.
This case was a good example of how strength training can sometimes work against you. The illustration shows training intended to correct pelvic tilt.
The patient had been told the pelvis was tilted backward, so they had been doing squats to strengthen the glute muscles.
However, when the pelvic angle was actually checked, the pelvis was tilted forward.
Even with the same exercise, different muscles can be emphasized. Deep squats strengthen the gluteal muscles as a whole, which encourages the pelvis to tilt further forward. In this case, because we wanted to guide the pelvis backward, we taught a method of selectively training only the upper part of the glute muscles.
Seitai is often thought of simply as a treatment for loosening muscles, but it also involves activating and strengthening muscles that have gone dormant. To prescribe the right training, a pre-treatment examination is carried out first.
The patient then tries again the movements that caused pain during the pre-treatment examination. We ask the patient to confirm for themselves that there is no longer a problem with any of those movements.
Pain is often the result of daily habits in how the body is used. I explained that by improving joint movement through daily stretching and training, the pain would be less likely to return. That completes the treatment.
Standing up and sitting down are things we do every day, so we receive many consultations about this issue.
This is caused by tight muscles in the thighs, buttocks, and stomach.
When people describe pain in the "pelvis" rather than the lower back, it is often the pain in the front or side of the pelvis or in the buttocks. Specifically, it is around the hip joint, gluteus medius, and gluteus maximus. In many cases, there is a problem with the hip joint, and in some cases, the condition is diagnosed as osteoarthritis of the hip.
The reason hip joints have problems is because the muscles and ligaments that move the hip joint have lost flexibility. Therefore, the aim is to improve the condition by loosening the tense areas, particularly around the hip joint. However, it becomes difficult to solve the problem when the cause is far away from the hip joint, such as in the knee or calf.
When bending and straightening the knee, a twisting movement is also performed at the same time. At first glance, there may appear to be no problem with the knee, and even if you are able to squat, the twisting movement of the knee may not be smooth. For those who complain of pain in the front of the pelvis when standing up due to this knee rotation, the problem can be resolved by adjusting the knee.
While it is clear that pelvic pain is often caused by muscles, which muscles are most affected varies from person to person.
Therefore, if you want to know why your pelvis hurts when you stand up, it's important to examine which part of your body's movement is wrong. "}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How long will your lower back pain last?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"
If the treatment is done correctly, the pain will be reduced immediately, but if it is a chronic problem, the relief will continue until the muscles are released and proper use of the body is established as a habit.
Pain is a sign that there is a problem in the body, so it can be resolved by removing the cause. However, many people are troubled by the fact that their pain does not improve. Why is this?
The first reason is that the muscles causing the pain are not identified. Stretching and exercising without identifying the source of the problem will delay the resolution of the pain.
Even worse, it can encourage you to use your body in a worse way, which doesn't solve the problem but instead creates more pain.
The second reason is lifestyle habits, that is, how you use your body. Even if you identify the muscle that is causing the pain, as long as you continue to use your body in a way that tenses that muscle, pain will appear.
If the treatment is done correctly, the body's distortion will be corrected and the pain will be reduced immediately. If the pain is reduced, it means that the body is now in a state where it can be used correctly. This is exactly what chiropractic is all about.
If you maintain this correct state and the muscles become firm, the pain will go away. It is important to maintain the improved condition achieved by the treatment.
The duration of your back pain will depend on how long it takes to maintain proper posture after pain relief through treatment.
Steps to solving the problem through seitai
The way you use your body today has been shaped over time through all kinds of experiences since childhood, including play, sports, accidents, and childbirth.
So if you are in pain, it is simply your body’s way of telling you that there has been a problem in the way you have been using it up to now.
The first stage in solving the problem is to stop the pain. Once the cause has been identified through examination and treatment is given accordingly, the pain will ease. Only after the pain has improved are you ready to learn how to use your body correctly.
The second stage is to learn proper body use. This changes both the body and the brain so that you do not return to your former condition.
Because physical pain is often caused by daily habits, stretching and exercise become necessary. As with brushing your teeth, steady repetition is important.
If you want to solve your pain, first stop the pain. Stretching and exercise come after that.
