The Worst Habits for Your Back and the Best Treatment

A recent NYTs article entitled “The Worst Habits for Your Back” highlighted several habits that can act as triggers for new back pain or flare old back pain for many people. (See link at the bottom of this blog post for original article.) The article also noted that a recent review study concluded that many treatments for back pain that people try out are ineffective, save a very few.

As someone who has been interested in how to support healing in those with both acute and chronic back pain- for more than 35 years, first in my capacity as a family doctor in the 80s and 90s, and more recently as a yoga instructor, yoga therapist and medical acupuncturist- this topic is of great interest to me! I can’t tell you how many people have come to see me for relief of back pain who triggered it by getting something out of the trunk of their car, bending, twisting and lifting the item out. Ouch! Turns out that this is the first “habit” mentioned in the NYTs article, affectionately called the BLT: bend, lift and twist.

We will get to some of the other so-called habits that are potentially bad for your back health in a moment. But as important as knowing about these habits is for all of us going forward, it is equally important to understand the scope of the back pain problem here in the US and abroad. One study showed that about one third of adults have experienced back pain over a relatively short 3-month period. Past research has also shown that 9 out of 10 adults report a significant bout of back pain sometime in their lifetime, and up to 10% of those go on to develop chronic or persistent back pain, lasting more than 6 weeks and sometimes for years. And around the world, back pain is the leading cause of disability, so this is a global health issue.

Perhaps even more discouraging and daunting is the fact that so many purported treatments for acute and chronic back pain show no real benefit in scientific studies, at least in addressing reduction in pain. A recent review article noted that only one treatment was statistically beneficial in treating acute and chronic pain: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications like ibuprofen! 5 others had milder benefits (out of 56 treatments reviewed!): exercise*, spinal manipulation (think chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation), taping the lower back, antidepressants*, and the application of heating creams. The take-away from this study is that back pain is extremely difficult to treat! (See link at the bottom of this post to read entire article.)

We will come back to the short list of beneficial treatments for back pain later, but let’s return to the “habits” highlighted above. What are the others? In addition to my trunk-bending example, other moves in everyday life can also fall under the BLT heading: the awkward move to simply get in and out of the car, shoveling snow or raking leaves, and getting your child out their safety seat in the back seat of your car (seems the car is a potential landmine for your back!). Then there is the Reverse-BLT (just named here, folks!), when lifting a heavy carry-on bag into the overhead bin on an airplane, where you bend to pick up the bag, then lift, arch the spine and twist to get it into the bin. Not only does this require strong legs and lower back, but getting the bag up and into the bin also requires upper spine, arm and chest strength.

Then there are activities we might assume are generally good for our physical and mental wellbeing that can be problematic, such as not warming up enough for sports activities like the uber-popular Pickleball, and others like paddle tennis and golf. And, if you have not gotten the memo, old fashioned sit-ups and crunches have been shown to actually increase your risk of low back pain, so much so that the Marine Corps have phased them out entirely. What did they replace them with??? Planks, similar to what we do in modern yoga asana practice.

I’m always curious what you, my readers, have found to triggers to back pain, so definitely drop me an email with your experiences.

Let’s get back to what can relieve back pain. I want to return to 2 of the treatments (that I *’ed above) that were mentioned as somewhat effective in addressing back pain, exercise and antidepressants. There is actually quite a bit of research on yoga for back pain that indicates yoga asana (modified to take into account certain poses that help or aggravate back pain) can be quite helpful in reducing pain and improving function. This certainly reflects my personal observations over the last 24 years of offering Yoga for Back Health weekly classes. And it also reflects the opinions of many doctors who treat back pain. They often recommend core strengthening poses like plank and practices that improve strength, flexibility and mood… yoga anyone? Regarding mood, yoga has also been shown in many studies to be an effective add-on to the treatment of depression, so it might lead to lower doses of antidepression meds needed or even eliminating the need for them altogether (in consultation with your mental health care provider, of course).

So, to recap:

• Back pain is incredibly common and very difficult to treat.

• There are certain situations, movements and habits you can change and modify to lower your chances of flaring up pain in your back.

• Exercise and antidepressants are 2 of 6 treatments that show benefit in scientific studies.

• Yoga qualifies as forms of both!

What are your action items:

• Keep those bad back habits in mind and modify how you move to lower your chances of triggering back pain.

• Keep doing your yoga practice or start one. If back pain is something you are dealing with or have dealt with, look for a specialized Yoga for Back Health class or a Certified Yoga Therapist you can work with one on one.

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Resources:

Yoga for Back Health & Conditioning Classes: https://www.baxterbell.com/yoga-for-back-health-online-classes

One-on-One Yoga Therapy Sessions: https://www.baxterbell.com/therapeutics

“The Worst Habits for Your Back”: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/well/bad-habits-back-spine-surgeons.html

“Most Treatments for Low Back Pain Don’t Work”:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/well/lower-back-pain-treatments-nsaids.html#