by Dr. Jan Hartvigsen DC. Phd

1. Pain is a signal to stop.

Wrong. This myth was disproven in the eighties. In general, people with back pain do better if they stay active and exercise in spite of their pain.

2.Execises are allways good for back pain.

Wrong. New research shows that some back pain patients do much better with exercise whereas others actually do worse. In particular, exercise is not recommended for patients with back pain of very recent onset.

3. Sitting at work causes back pain.

Wrong. For many years it was believed that sedentary work was a risk factor for back pain. Now we know that people who sit on the job have the lowest risk of all for developing pain in the lower back.

4. Smoking causes back pain.

Wrong. While there are many good reasons to stop smoking it probably won't help your back. A major exception to this is patients who are about to undergo surgery, in which case quitting smoking will help you recover faster after the surgery.

5. Loosing weight helps the back.

Wrong. Again, there are many good reasons to loose weight but it probably will not help your back pain. An extensive review of the past 50 years of research dealing with obesity and back pain showed that slim people have just as much back pain as fat people.

6. Straighten up - it is healthy for the back.

Probably wrong. Research from many countries suggest that there is no connection between posture and back pain.

7. Correct lifting technique helps your back.

Possibly, but we do not know how to lift right. New research has shown that people who lift according to what we define as “the right way” get just as much back pain as people who lift “the wrong way”.

8. Ergonomic furniture prevents back pain.

Wrong. Ergonomic furniture are comfortable and they may look nice, but there is no evidence that people who use ergonomic furniture have less back pain compared to people who do not.