The pain in your lower back when you stand up is caused by stiffness in your chest and legs
If your lower back hurts when you stand up, it's because your chest and legs are stiff.
The lower back connects the upper and lower body, so it is vulnerable to poor chest and leg movement. Therefore, lower back pain is a cry from the lower back, caught between the chest and legs, saying, "I can't take over the work of my lower back and chest, which aren't working."
The hip bones are good at forward and backward movements, such as bending forward and leaning backward. On the other hand, they are not good at twisting movements, such as turning your head. The hips can only twist 5 degrees.
That's where the legs and chest come in. The rotation of the body when turning around or the dynamic rotation of the body when throwing a ball are produced by the hip joints, which are good at twisting, as well as the spine and neck, all working together to create this rotation.
But one day, your chest and legs start to lose movement, and you can no longer bend or turn as you want.Then, your hip joints and muscles start to compensate for the lack of movement by performing tasks that they are not originally responsible for.
Your lower back may be fine at first, but as you get tired, it will start to lose its ability to move. And the pain will be your way of telling your chest and legs to get back to their normal function.
The illustration shows how pain can arise from desk work.
If you continue to keep your arms out in front of you, your shoulders and chest will become stiff, and you will lose flexibility. At the same time, if you continue to sit, your hip joints will become stiff in a bent position, again restricting your natural freedom of movement.
When you stand up with your upper and lower body still, it puts unnecessary strain on your lower back, which is caught between them. If you do this every day, it will eventually cause lower back pain.
Even if you don't work at a desk, driving a car or playing sports can impair shoulder and chest mobility. People who spend a lot of time standing can also have poor hip mobility.
You may have tried sitting on a cushion that stabilizes your pelvis, or even tried more active running and stretching, but if you still haven't felt better to this day, it's because the parts of your body that should be moving aren't moving.
To resolve lower back pain when standing up, identify the part of your body that is not moving properly and stretch the muscles that are restricting movement.
- I tried changing the chair and cushions but it didn't help.
- I tried stretching
- Regularly exercise, such as running or yoga
- Have received treatment such as a massage
The key to solving this problem is to understand your body's habits.
The illustration shows shoulder movement being tested.
If you notice that the arms are not raised straight up, it is likely that there is a distortion in the shoulder blades or their position, or that there is a problem with the movement of the shoulder joint.
Ideally, your hands should be raised directly above your head, so that your arms cover your ears when viewed from the side.
Now, try to raise your arm as high as it should be and see how your body reacts.
When you try to raise your arms straight up, your lower back arches. This is the result of your lower back taking over the movement that should normally be performed by your shoulders and chest. Curving your lower back more than usual puts strain on the joints and muscles in your lower back.
Distortion is a characteristic that surfaces depending on how you use your body. Humans always rationally choose how to use their bodies in a way that is easy for them to move. Muscles that are no longer used because they are difficult to move will become weaker and will surface as distortion.
For example, when working on a computer, you have to keep your arms raised in front of your chest for a long time, which makes your body think, "It's a hassle to lift my arms from my side to use the computer."
As the body focuses on efficiency, it eventually distorts the position of the shoulder blades and arms to make it easier to extend the arms in front of the body, changing into a posture suitable for desk work.
Using tests to find distortions will help you understand your body's habits, which will provide clues to finding a solution.
Treatment record
Let's take a look at the records to see what steps you can take to improve the lower back pain that occurs when standing up.
- Symptoms: Lower back pain when standing up from a chair. The pain disappears after standing up and walking a few steps.
- Age: 40s
- Work: Use a computer all day
- What I've tried: Pelvic support cushion, stretching, squats, massage
If we were to put the events up to now in chronological order, it would look something like this:
- Diagnosed as having a posteriorly tilted pelvis
- I was told that weak buttock muscles were the cause of my pelvic distortion.
- Start squatting and stretching
- At the same time, a cushion to correct the pelvis was introduced.
- Improved but recurred
- Looking for a solution to pelvic misalignment
After being diagnosed with a tilted pelvis, he underwent repeated trial and error focusing on the pelvis.
Various tests will be performed to find the cause. Various parts of the body have a limited range of movement. For example, if you move your head to look up at the ceiling and you can tilt your head until your face is parallel to the ceiling, it can be determined that there is no problem with neck movement.
If you are unable to move as you should, or if it is difficult to move up and down or side to side, this can be identified as the cause of the pain.
Test results
The examination revealed problems with sideways and twisting movements.
When comparing the movement of the back muscles on the left and right sides, the right side is stiff.
The reason is that the muscles on the right and left sides of your back are not used in the same way.
The medical records reveal two things:
The muscles on the left side are stronger than the muscles on the right side.
- The muscles on the right side are contracted. These two factors make it difficult to lean to the left.
Just having stiff muscles in your back can affect the movement of your entire body.
The effect on the upper body is that it becomes harder to lift your hands because the muscles in your back connect to your arms.
Furthermore, the effect of causing a hunched back makes it difficult to look back or up, making it even more difficult to move the upper body.
In terms of the impact on my lower body, only one side of my pelvis is good at moving sideways, which causes tension in my stride when walking and my right leg. This causes back pain and makes it difficult for me to stand for long periods of time.
Although the patient complains of lower back pain, I don't touch their lower back from the start. There are two reasons for this.
① Inflammation worsens and the number of visits to the hospital increases
When you massage your lower back, it definitely improves blood circulation for a moment, which feels good. However, the muscles causing pain are inflamed, so pressing on them will only make the inflammation worse. This will result in constant pain, and during the treatment, it will be impossible to tell whether your symptoms are improving or not.
This makes it impossible to tell on the spot whether the symptoms have improved, so we end up saying, "That's all for today. Let's see how it goes for a while," which results in the patient having to come to the clinic more often. This is not desirable as it increases the burden on the customer.
② There is no cause in the area where the pain is occurring
When you have lower back pain, the cause is often far away, in the neck, shoulders, or legs. Massaging your lower back may feel good, but it doesn't fundamentally improve the problem.
Also, the muscles that are causing pain may not be relaxed, and the more treatment you receive, the worse the pain will become.
For these two reasons, even though the patient complains of pain in their lower back, we do not touch their lower back from the start.
Treatment details
We will introduce you to treatments that are unique to chiropractic.
This was a good example of how muscle training can have the opposite effect. The illustration shows training to correct pelvic tilt.
She was diagnosed with a posteriorly tilted pelvis, so she has been doing squats to strengthen her butt muscles.
However, when you check the tilt of your pelvis, you find that it is tilted forward.
Even with the same squat, different muscles are trained. Squatting deeply strengthens the entire buttocks, which helps tilt the pelvis forward. In this article, we'll show you how to selectively train only the upper part of the buttocks, as we want to guide the pelvis backward.
Although chiropractic is generally thought of as a treatment to loosen muscles, it also activates and strengthens dormant muscles. In order to prescribe the correct training, a pre-treatment examination is carried out.
The patient will then try again any movements that were painful during the pre-treatment examination. We ask the patient to confirm that there are no problems with any of the movements.
The pain is caused by lifestyle habits that stem from the way the body is used on a daily basis. I explained that by improving joint movement through daily stretching and training, the pain would not recur. This completes the treatment.
Since we stand and sit every day, we receive many inquiries 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 solve the problem holistically
The way we use our bodies, learned from childhood through play, sports, accidents, childbirth and other events, has shaped the physical condition we have today.
If you are experiencing pain, it is simply your body's way of telling you that there is a problem with the way you have been using your body up until now.
The first step to solving the problem is to stop the pain. After identifying the cause through an examination and then performing treatment, the pain will be reduced. Only after the pain has been alleviated will you be ready to learn how to use your body correctly.
The second step is to learn how to use your body correctly. This will change your body and brain so that you don't go back to your old state.
Since physical pain is often caused by lifestyle habits, stretching and exercise are necessary. Just like brushing your teeth, consistent practice is important.
If you want to solve your pain, you need to stop the pain first, then stretching and exercise can come afterwards.
