Why Your Back Hurts (No, It's Not Age)
- Heidi Blackie
- 4 days ago
- 8 min read
Let me guess. Your back has been "a bit sore" for longer than you can remember. You've written it off as part of getting older, or maybe that weekend you overdid it in the garden three years ago. You've tried stretching. Exercise. Massage. Ignoring it. And yet, it's still there. Here's what I want you to consider before you get a new chair - it may actually not be the chair, but your position in your chair, which may be very fixable.
What Gravity Is Actually Doing to Your Spine
When was the last time you stopped and thought about gravity? You and your lumbar spine, the lower curve of your back, is under load all day long. That's just gravity doing its thing. But how much load it's under depends enormously on your position, and the differences are bigger than most people realize.
Researcher Alf Nachemson spent decades studying intradiscal pressure in the lumbar spine and what he found has become foundational in ergonomics. Later research by Wilke and colleagues used more advanced measurement techniques, and a 2023 review pooled findings across multiple studies. The numbers vary slightly between studies and between individuals, but all the research agrees on the core finding: different positions place different amounts of pressure on your lumbar discs, and forward lean is the biggest driver of increased load. The short version:
Lying down: pressure is at about 25% of your standing baseline
Standing upright: 100%
Sitting upright, well supported: roughly the same as standing, maybe a little more
Sitting and leaning forward: 185% and climbing
Standing and leaning forward: up to 220%
That last number is the one that tends to make people sit up straighter when I share it in a workshop. Leaning forward, whether you're hunching over a keyboard, craning toward a screen, or propping your chin in your hand while you think, can more than double the compressive load on your lumbar discs.
Now think about how many hours a day your body is in that position. Then multiply that by weeks, months, years.
Your back isn't betraying you. It's been absorbing an enormous amount of load and it's finally asking you to pay attention.
The Perching Problem Nobody Talks About
One of the most common things I see in workstation assessments is what I call perching: sitting on the front third of the chair, feet tucked on the casters, torso pitched forward, lower back with absolutely no support.
It looks like engagement. It looks like someone leaning in, focused and ready. What it actually is: a slow assault on the lumbar spine.
Here's why it happens. The seat pan, the part of the chair you sit on, is often too deep for the person using it. If you sit all the way back in the chair to use the lumbar support, the edge of the seat digs into the back of your knees or your legs dangle uncomfortably. So you scoot forward to get comfortable, and in doing so you lose all the support the chair was designed to give you. Most people think, this is good, I am using my postural muscles, I'll get stronger. But those little muscles fatigue over time and your position changes to accommodate the fatigue.
I see this most often with smaller people, and I see it constantly.
The fix, more often than you'd expect, is a footrest.
When your feet are properly supported, you can actually sit back in the chair. Your pelvis assumes a healthier position, your lumbar curve is supported, and suddenly that expensive chair you thought wasn't working starts doing its job. I've had clients with years of back pain find significant resolution of symptoms when we fit their workstation to them and their feet are well supported.
Lumbar Support: More Isn't Always Better
Once someone is sitting all the way back in their chair, the next question is lumbar support.
Lumbar support is meant to maintain the natural inward curve of your lower spine. Without it, your lumbar spine flattens as the hours go by, which increases disc pressure. With good lumbar support, you stay in a supported neutral curve and your back muscles don't have to work as hard to hold you upright.
Too much lumbar support, or support positioned in the wrong spot, pushes your spine into an exaggerated curve, which creates its own problems. If your lumbar pad is digging into your back rather than gently cradling it while maintaining your natural curve, it's too aggressive or in the wrong position. Adjustable lumbar support matters because we are all different shapes and sizes.
A slight recline also helps. Research on seated posture consistently shows that leaning back 10 to 15 degrees from vertical significantly reduces lumbar load. Think of your car seat, you wouldn't have it bolt upright. I'm talking about a small recline, not full cruising position.
The Part Most People Forget: Movement
I have sciatica. I know from personal experience that nothing turns a manageable situation into a miserable one faster than sitting or standing in one position for too long.
For many people with back pain, including those with sciatica or disc issues, the position matters but movement matters just as much. Staying in any one posture, even a good one, for too long compresses tissues, reduces circulation to the discs, and tightens the muscles that support the spine.
The research on this is consistent. Short, frequent movement breaks do more for your back than almost any single piece of equipment. We're not talking about a full workout every hour. We're talking about standing up, walking to the kitchen, doing a gentle spinal rotation. Two minutes every 30 to 45 minutes is enough to change the load pattern and give your back a reset. I've written about the research behind exercise snacks and what even small bouts of movement do for your health here: Exercise Snacks: The One Minute Habit That Protects Your Heart And Cuts Cancer Risk.
Position changes also matter at the workstation itself. If you have a sit-stand desk, use it, but understand that standing isn't automatically better than sitting. The goal is alternating position, not substituting one static posture for another. A well-researched formula is: for every 30 minutes of work, sit for 20, stand for 8, and move for 2. Over a 7.5-hour workday that works out to roughly 5 hours of sitting, 2 hours of standing, and 30 minutes of movement. Your spine gets variety, your circulation keeps moving, and you're not white-knuckling any single position for hours on end.
For specific movements that support your spine during the workday, I have a post on that too: 3 Exercise Snacks for Your Spine.
When It's Not the Setup
Sometimes back pain at work isn't primarily a setup problem. Sometimes there's an underlying condition, a disc issue, sciatica, stenosis, that needs medical attention alongside workstation changes. If you've been in significant pain for more than a few weeks, or if you have symptoms radiating down your leg, numbness, or weakness, please see your doctor or physical therapist. Ergonomics can support recovery and prevent worsening, but it's not a substitute for appropriate care.
And sometimes it's not one big thing but a cluster of small things: the chair that's slightly too high, the monitor that makes you tilt your head down, the keyboard that pulls your shoulders forward. These things compound. The injury isn't a single event. It's the accumulation. I covered how wrist, shoulder, and neck injuries build up at the workstation in this post and the same principle applies to back pain.
What to Check Right Now
You don't have to wait for a professional assessment to make progress. Here's where to start:
Are your feet flat on the floor? If they're dangling, tucked under the casters, or you're straining to reach, get a footrest. This is one of the most underrated ergonomic interventions and one of the most affordable.
Are you sitting all the way back in your chair? If the answer is no, ask yourself why. Seat too deep? Lumbar support in the wrong place? Figure out what's stopping you from using the chair as designed and fix it with some of these suggestions.
Do you have lower back support? If your chair doesn't have adjustable lumbar support, a small lumbar pillow or rolled towel can fill the gap while you figure out a longer-term solution.
Is your screen pulling you forward? If you're leaning in to see your monitor, it's either too far away or too low. Bring it closer, raise it up, or increase the text size. Your spine should not be paying the price for a font that's too small.
When did you last get up? If you can't remember, get up now. Move for at least two minutes. Have a drink of water, take a few deep breaths and put your desk in a different position from where it was when you took the break. If you can't that's ok, just set a timer for 30 minutes to remind you to get up again.
A Note on Chairs
An expensive ergonomic chair that isn't set up for your body is just expensive furniture. I've assessed workstations with thousand-dollar chairs where the person is still perching, still in pain, because nobody ever showed them how to adjust it.
Conversely, I've seen people make significant progress with modest equipment, once they understand what position they're going for and why.
Equipment matters. But knowledge of how to use it matters just as much.
The Bottom Line
Your back pain is not inevitable. It's not just what happens when you get older, or after you have kids, or because you have the kind of body that hurts. In most cases, back pain that develops gradually over years of desk work is cumulative, positional, and addressable.
Get your feet supported. Sit all the way back in your chair. Let your lumbar support do its job. Give your back a slight recline. And get up and move.
If you've been living with this long enough that you've stopped believing it can change, I'd love to talk. Sometimes it takes a fresh set of eyes on the whole picture to figure out what's actually driving the problem.
FAQs
Why does my lower back hurt after sitting all day?
Prolonged sitting, especially in a forward-leaning position, significantly increases the compressive load on your lumbar discs. Without proper foot support, lumbar support, and regular movement breaks, that load accumulates over hours and years. The position matters as much as the duration.
Could a footrest really help my back pain?
Yes, and it's one of the most underrated fixes I use in workstation assessments. When your feet aren't properly supported, you tend to perch on the front of the chair which loads the spine. A footrest lets you sit all the way back and use the chair the way it was designed. I've had clients with years of back pain feel a meaningful difference within days.
How much lumbar support do I need?
Enough to maintain the natural inward curve of your lower spine, but not so much that it pushes you into an exaggerated arch. If your lumbar support is forcing your pelvis to tilt forward, it's too aggressive or in the wrong position. Adjustable lumbar support is ideal because everyone's back is shaped differently.
Is standing better than sitting for back pain?
Not necessarily. Standing in a static position has its own costs, including swelling in the feet, hip and knee pain, and low back strain. The goal is variety of position, not substitution of one for another. A useful formula is 20 minutes sitting, 8 minutes standing, and 2 minutes moving for every 30 minutes of work.
How often should I get up from my desk?
Aim for a brief movement break every 30 to 45 minutes. It doesn't have to be a structured stretch routine. Standing up, walking for a couple of minutes, doing a gentle spinal rotation: that's enough to change the load pattern and give your back a reset.
When should I see a professional about back pain?
If you've had significant pain for more than a few weeks, or if you have symptoms radiating down your leg, numbness, or weakness, see your doctor or physical therapist. Ergonomics can support recovery and prevent worsening, but it's not a substitute for appropriate medical care.
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