Dr. Tankevičius presented some of the most important rules for anyone suffering from back pain

Do people with back pain often come to you?

Yes of course. Back pain is a common problem and perhaps up to half to 40 percent of all patients who refer to it complain of back pain. The other party complains of knee pain.

How much does sedentary work really affect? Everyone remembers their grandparents who cut firewood, mowed the lawn and did not complain about anything, they worked the rest of their lives. And now we have had hernias for 16 years.

Sitting, like smoking, is a big risk factor. But not how much sitting, but how much passivity. If we do sedentary work but then we are physically active, everything will be fine if we do not make any mistakes. Of course, sitting and lying alone in bed will not cause injury either. The worst case is when we are physically inactive, we have weak muscles, poor spinal stabilization, and we experience some kind of load that we are not used to. Suppose a person is physically active in school, then a profession arises, the sport ends, but from time to time he tries to remember those good days. The body is not ready to accept this.

But you’re talking about muscles, about their condition, and basically your back hurts.

It is very important that the muscles that stabilize the back are sufficiently active. Then our column will resist.

What happens when we sit in front of the computer and smooth the keys? Some muscles shorten, others lengthen, do the vertebrae separate?

If we work in one position, the vertebrae in the spine are loaded unevenly, a rupture forms, and the disc wears out more quickly. Also, as you mentioned, the muscles are contracted, some stretched. We need to change the situation, because there is no one who is universal. You need to do preventive exercises and get up every 2 hours. Even one minute of recourse every 2 hours would avoid such problems.

You mentioned that there are no ideal chairs. But the market is full of bargains: saddle-shaped tables, height-adjustable tables, and the like. Does everything help?

It helps, but we have to change the situation. If we sit down, let’s stand up, pretend a little while standing, leaning back, or stretching. And even better, if we get up and methodically stretch all the muscles. This is especially important in the morning and after work.

In fact, for compatriots, until they start to hurt something a lot or dissolve with a hand or foot, they won’t move much. He started hurting someone, where to go?

See what the pain is, whether it is temporary or severe. Pain is a sign that something is wrong with the body. If it was not trauma, it was not the case that we suddenly picked something up, fell and dislocated a sudden pain, usually it is a sign of pain that makes us look for solutions. Maybe you need some kind of exercise, moving, going to the gym, giving a light stimulus to all the muscles. During it, we should not tear ourselves apart from the pain, we simply feel that all the muscles are working.

How often?

If we talk about strength training, it is at least 2 times a week for 40 minutes. Personal trainers, physical therapists are now very popular. I would say that they compete with each other and their goal is not to train the patient and let her work independently, but to tie her up. I understand that they eat bread with him, but I think the fairest way would be for the patients to learn from the trainers, physical therapists and learn as much as possible to do it on their own.

Is it possible to exercise a patient with back pain without an exam?

If we are physically inactive, but we walk a little, we exercise, we move the intervertebral discs, that alone can fix the problem. In most cases, back pain goes away after 3-4 weeks if there are no dangerous structural changes.

So if the pain subsides and disappears after a little movement, no need to look for any reason. If the pain is constant, accompanied by numbness, muscle weakness, the pain cannot be relieved by any medication and physical activity, the help of a specialist is required.

Yes. Even exercise: if we find universal exercise online, in most cases it will help. This will be enough to activate the weakened muscles. By avoiding painful movements, exercises that cause pain, we will still benefit.

But there is exercise to strengthen your back muscles and relieve pain. At a time when pain is getting worse, do you need one and at a time when remission is needed?

Of course. If we can’t do the exercise, it hurts, don’t do it. Clearly, painless exercises are prioritized.

It is a process that requires effort and time. It is much easier to drink something and preferably natural. Probably number one is the B vitamins. Help?

It is naive to expect that. Time usually helps. People say I took vitamins for a week and got better. It’s only been a week and he’s improved as a result. If people are given exercises, they will find a reason why it was not they who helped, but some herbal preparation.

Do we have to wait for the pain to appear or do we have to resort to remedies now?

Again, if a person doing physical work has back pain, he needs exercises that relax the muscles: stretching exercises, swimming pool. If an office worker has back pain, he needs to strengthen his muscles.

Is it possible to make something worse by exercising?

If we do it through pain and it will be strong, it is clear that it can hurt. But if we do it carefully and feel a slight swim, nothing really happens. Especially if we do it on a mat.

And for the end of the show, wishes to everyone who suffers from back pain.

You have to understand that in many cases we are the ones to blame, pain is our friend that tells us that something is wrong. Exercise can help yourself a lot. Let’s live in a way that doesn’t hurt.