In order to live a fulfilled life, we need to strengthen 3 areas in our lives: mental fortitude, resources, and our health.
Health is likely the most important aspect of our lives, but we tend to neglect it. In this case, we’re going to talk about low back pain.
A study done by the CDC showed that in 2019, 39% of adults experienced back pain. That’s nearly half of the adult population. That means if you flip a coin, there’s almost a 50/50 chance you’ll experience it as well.
These issues are likely to cascade a ton of other negative outcomes: degraded quality of life, potential use/addiction to opiod use, surgery, disability, decreased productivity, and even mental health issues may arise.
This may be a hot take, but I believe that most cases of lower back pain are caused by ourselves. We know that low back pain tends to become an issue with age, but for some reason, we’ve come to accept that this is just how we’re meant to live our lives now.
I refuse the believe to accept that this is how we should live our lives.
Our priorities have all shifted in this new age – priortizing phsyical aesthetics over function. Many individuals also prioritize being comfortable over being active. These misguided priorities have led us to a sedentary lifestyle, poor posture, and unbalanced body structures. These issues, I believe, are the root causes of our pain.
I don’t blame these individuals though. We’ve been taught to value these things and to accept it as part life. The system we’ve developed was created for us to work, eat, sleep, repeat. This routine leaves no room for us to focus on our health, but we need to make time for it. We need to start shifting our mindsets to re-align our values – no one else will do that for us.
The topic of back pain means a great deal to me. I’ve suffered from low back pain and sciatica for years and honestly, I still experience it from time to time. The symptoms started when I was 22, but I was able to manage the pain and rehabilitate it so that I live a relatively pain-free life now that I’m 30.
And I did this all on my own – without intervention from a doctor, no surgeries, etc. I took my body and my life back into my own hands and did what I needed to do. (My story coming soon)