What year did your back go?

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SnoopyLupus@reddit

It was New Year’s Eve, just after my 50th birthday. I was washing a foot in the shower, so that kind of awkward position, and it went twang, and has never been the same since

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velvevore@reddit

50 here, and so far I don't have anything physically wrong with me and am pretty much as bendy as I was at 20. Not sure what I did right tbh.

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Hyperion2023@reddit

46, posture could prob be better, but no back problems at all. I do a bit of gym and overall am very active. Fingers firmly crossed this lasts a bit longer!

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Cap2017@reddit

2019, pulling an all time deadlift PR. Never been the same. Got stuck in bed a year or so later when it locked up. Switched to running and functional training now as I can’t hack heavy any more

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bimbosissyshagger@reddit

17 for the middle back, 18 for the lower, I am now 20 and even though I left the job causing the pain its not the same

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2002, I was 13. Took a hefty landing when playing football, essentially spiked on my head. I'm now 36 and walk part time with a stick. Get regular waves of sciatica that take me off my feet for days at a time. This latest flare up is the worst I've ever had, since October I've had shooting pains down my legs, my neck is so tight that it clicks and pops every time I turn my head, it's so tight that I feel nauseous for hours a day, usually have to take a 60-90 minute nap in the middle of the day to get through the day. Also I get shooting nerve pain inside my head, and a feel like there's water trickling inside my head

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Rh-27@reddit

This sounds horrible. You have my sympathy.

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Mdl8922@reddit

Much appreciated, thanks.

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ClaryClarysage@reddit

Did mine about two weeks ago and it hasn't been right since. Also managed to get crafter's thumbs so thats cool too. I'm only 40.

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Frothingdogscock@reddit

1987, I was 17 and invincible. From 19-21 I couldn't walk, after surgery things got a little more normal. Things have turned to shit again recently.

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Remote-Pool7787@reddit

I think for a lot of people it doesn’t “go” but that poor posture, wrong lifting, bad habits and rubbish mattresses, shoes etc catches up with them

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Pockysocks@reddit

I'll be 40 this year. Back is doing fine but certainly not as spry as it was 20 years ago. Daily stretching definitely helps a lot. I notice how much stiffer it can be if I don't.

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manhattan4@reddit

Early 30's, which coincided with having a sit down job, doing fuck all excercise for almost 10 years, and having a young kid who I was picking up all the time. It 'went' when I picked up my kid. It was the worst pain i've ever experienced, I was signed off for a month and couldn't move without agony for over a week. I spent the best part of a decade with intermittent lower back pain, and I tried everything: rest, pain killers, massage, physio, acupuncture, bullshit chiropractors. The only thing that sorted it was a physio who gave me excercises to strengthen my core and correct pelvic tilt. Since excercising 3 times a week its never been a problem, if I stop it comes back in a month or so. Advice for life: lift with your knees, and maintain your excercise because sitting all day is terrible for you.

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insertitherenow@reddit

Probably when I was about 35. Years of sport and weight training along with trying to carry 5 bags of cement all at once. Suffered with bouts of really bad pain for about 15 years. Eventually I had a spinal fusion when I was 49. Apart from flexibility issues I’m in the gym 5 or 6 days a week now.

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DameKumquat@reddit

I have a ridiculous long list of impairments, but my back is one of the few bits that works OK, in my 50s. Not sure how. A few times I've been sent to exercise classes for people with back pain, run by hospital physios. The idea being that I won't injure myself and can get fitter. Each time, I've managed to injure myself - but not my back, tbf.

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its-easy-mkay@reddit

I was 20 years old when I fell over during a really bad winter. Two years later I was diagnosed with arthritis

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Rhubarb-Eater@reddit

I used to work at a sports injury place and it was astonishing the number of people who’d hurt their back 15 years ago, assumed that was it for ever, and never done anything about it. A bit of strengthening and mobility and they were cured. Some of them had left jobs they loved because of it! Wild.

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Prestigious-Run-4244@reddit

This is right, I regard my back never being the same because physically that vertebrae will never be the same but physio made a huge difference to the spinal spasm it had been trapped in for weeks. I do still occasionally get issues

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MidnightOrdinary896@reddit

Had these people been written off by GPs etc before they came to your clinic? I found a lot of professionals wanted me to live with pain and take a few meds rather than work on actual diagnosis or lifestyle changes

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Rhubarb-Eater@reddit

No, they wrote themselves off. Their GP had given them physio exercises, which they hadn’t done. When people don’t pay for advice, they don’t value it.

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No_Concept_3477@reddit

This was me with my knees! Injury to left knee at 18yo, years of overcompensating with the right. Was hobbling around aged 24. I was prescribed strong anti-inflammatory meds and told to take them for life. Got a job with private medical insurance and decided to see if they could help. One MRI and 12 weeks of physio later, I was a new woman. Hiked to Everest base camp at 25, zero issues now at 30! The impact of physiotherapy and the right exercises is massively underestimated!

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farraigemeansthesea@reddit

right now. I was getting out of the bath and something stuck. I'm in tremendous amount of pain.

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FairHost988@reddit

In my 30s I assumed my back was permanently fucked after years of pain.. then I stopped cycling and it suddenly got better. Mid 40s now and no issues.

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moondust1959@reddit

I’m 66 with no back problems 🤞🏻🍀. Just about to go into a new career in nursing, so maybe I’ll come back to the question in six months.

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MaximumScary1290@reddit

I always had problems with my legs due to my spine being misaligned. I had spinal fusion surgery in 2019, I was 44.

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musicallymotivated93@reddit

When I was 14/15 playing rugby at school, so 2008/2009. Someone bigger than I was ended up landing on my neck and upper back which fucked me up for a while. Although at 32, for the last year or so it's been the best it's been since before that.

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MidnightOrdinary896@reddit

33- I developed fibromyalgia during chemotherapy. So while it’s not structural like a slipped disk etc, it’s my main area of pain

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Forever_a_Kumquat@reddit

2004 ish. Had spinal surgery in 2011. I was 27 in 2011.

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PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit

Mine got bad in my late 20s. Then I lost half my body weight. Now in my early 30s and it's fine.

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terahurts@reddit

I'm 53 with spinal stenosis (0/10, not recommended) which started in my late 40s. Before that I'd had the odd 'bad back' starting in puberty when my growth spurt kicked in. Years of lugging heavy PCs and servers as well as the old CRT monitors around and crawling under desks etc plus riding sports bikes and having awful posture definitely didn't help either.

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kylehyde84@reddit

14. I've got scoliosis 😂🤦

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VagueNostalgicRamble@reddit

2013 so I would've been early 30s. Youngest kid was in a high chair which I tried to pick up and move a bit closer to the couch. I think I put it out yearly since then, each subsequent time it was a more trivial action than the last until eventually it was happening just from sitting at my desk and working... And each time was more painful and took longer to recover. Until I think 2021 when we rescued a dog and I started to get some proper exercise, and I got a rising desk and got into the habit of alternating between sitting and standing throughout the day.

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Emotional_Pick9327@reddit

Ex postman Got 2 slipped discs , had to be medically retired, Was seeing a chiropractor who got me going again , I lost weight went , swimming , in 2 years was back to normal, When I go to lift something now am very careful

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Silvagadron@reddit

Well I'm 30 now so I'm just gonna stop looking at these comments and cross my fingers.

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intothedepthsofhell@reddit

My back was at it's worst in my thirties. I remember twisting as I lifted one of the kids out the car and I was in agony for about a week. Now mid fifties with more time to go the gym and never have back problems.

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LittleSadRufus@reddit

Similar story: I was really unfit in my early 40s, pulled my back really badly while weeding the garden and had to crawl back into the house. Am now early 50s and have spent 5+ years doing regular strength training and I've never had a stronger back, nor been more ache-free generally. Romanian deadlifts and gorilla rows look like absolute kryptonite for a back, but once you've built up to it it's amazing what a spine properly supported by its muscles can achieve.

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cosmicspaceowl@reddit

My back's been on and off at a low level since I was a student lugging library books all around Central London, I don't even think about it now unless I really overdo it on the allotment. My knee on the other hand I can pinpoint to December the year I was 31, when I tripped over on my way to buy a Christmas tree from a forestry car park and whacked it on a rock. Pretty sure I fractured it and it's healed wonky but I didn't go to a doctor at the time.

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Fine_Cress_649@reddit

I'm 45. I've pulled muscles in my back numerous times - usually doing something daft on a BMX or a climbing wall - but I've always gone back to normal in a few weeks. I've always been super active though - I go to the gym, climb, cycle and run and (currently) have no long lasting injuries. The longest lasting problem I had was recurrent pain in my left ankle for a couple of years after I broke it, but once I figured out the correct rehab exercises it was gone in a few months. Imo most people just need to move more - yes there are a few people who have some sort of structural problem - but for most people it's just that they don't use their bodies enough or in the right way.

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gabjam@reddit

2019. A badly programmed Crossfit workout at a gym I'd only dropped in on. 1 rep max overhead press, followed by high rep snatches and toes to bar. That volume of snatches after overhead press fatigue increased the risk of, and subsequently did, cause me to hyperextend my back. I couldn't get off the floor the next day and was A&E, then it was 2 years of painkillers, investigations, mobility work to get it to a place I could regularly train again. It gets bad flare-ups now if my hips are tight from sitting or if I've gone too hard on certain movements.

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BlackJackKetchum@reddit

40 odd, when I thought it was a really good idea to pick up a loaded bookcase and carry it across a room.

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PamVanDam@reddit

In my early 20s I worked a manual part time supermarket job and did 0 sport or lifting. My back would go all the time thanks to incorrect lifting and weak, well, everything. I remember one morning I breathed in my cereal and choke coughed a little ; instantly crippled. So I decided to work on my core, started lifting and doing Pilates and things really improved. In my 30s I started Aerial arts for fun and it really moved things up a notch. Hoping all that’s stood me in good stead as I enter my 40s. I want to start lifting heavier to help with bone density and mobility.

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Substantial-Bug-4998@reddit

1st Dec 2016. I was 35. Warming in the squat rack with 40kg on the bar. Bottom of first rep I felt a ping and a shooting pain in my lower back. Its never been the same. Turns out I have degenerative disc disease and a disc bulge at l5s1. Live in pretty much constant background pain. Do daily stretches and keep on at the gym but 10 years later, Im starting to actually walk like an old man.

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Round_Initial4188@reddit

33 so not over yet, but 0 back problems, but id happily remove my left leg if I could do so risk free due to a number of different issues!

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gaspoweredcat@reddit

That sounds like nerve pain, I know it well, after they messed my arm up I was at the docs literally begging them to amputate it because the painkillers just weren't touching it

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Prestigious-Run-4244@reddit

March 2023, fell and fractured my l5 vertebrae. Didn't find out till late April when I finally got it checked out

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therealhairykrishna@reddit

It was my late thirties. Working on my car's brakes, strained at a stuck bolt while twisted in a strange position. I have a fucked up disc now and I'm on daily painkillers. Look after yourselves.

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TheClimbingBeard@reddit

Back problems since I was 8 years old. That's 31 years now. The knee has only been shit since I was 11 though...

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Used-Brick-4099@reddit

I was 23 and ended up with a slipped disc when pregnant, my back has never been the same since.

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gaspoweredcat@reddit

I'm like 42 and No lasting issues, but almost a year ago to the day I was getting my stuff together to move house didn't realise how heavy a box was till it was too late, that hurt for like a few weeks after but i recovered fine, other parts of my body haven't fared as well but my back is still ok and I still have hair so I'm not aging that bad really

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Madsaxmcginn@reddit

17! I had a really bad cough for a few weeks which was making it start to ache and then I bent down to pick up the coal bucket, coughed and that was my first of many disc bulges. When they tell you to bend from the knees, listen!

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Dusty_Miss_Havisham@reddit

I'm 40s and I used to have a lower back nerve disc problem that developed 5yrs ago, but it's mostly healed now. Caused by prolonged stress, physical trauma from an illness, and too much sitting when I worked long hours from home over the covid period. Backs don't "go" as such but most back problems are caused by too much sitting or injury from poor lifting technique (according to my physical therapist).

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Fresh_Relation_7682@reddit

38. I’ve had tightness in my upper and lower back for 2-3 days but not agony or immobility from it. 95% of the time no issues

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Upbeat_Map_348@reddit

I think I was in my mid 40’s. I bent over to pick up my robot hoover and something went in my lower back and I could stand up. Took about 48 hours before I could move properly. It’s happened a couple of times since, once when I sneezed.

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geeered@reddit

Most of my 20s had some lower back pain. Had a period *not* working in an office soon after and been fine since, despite now working in an office.

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Otherwise_Koala4289@reddit

Do you do some kind of physical job where damaging your back is more likely? I'm in my mid thirties and don't think I know anybody my age who has back problems. So I'm surprised everyone above thirty who you work with does, unless you do some kind of role where injuring it is more likely?

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Mundane-Research@reddit

Counter argument... maybe the current job isn't demanding physically but, typically, people who join the job come from a background of demanding work... i.e. they all screw up their backs in their last job and come to OPs job where it's less physically demanding. Some kind of desk job linked to some kind of physical job maybe?

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