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Ask HN: Is there any way to avoid backpain while coding all day long?

6 points by behnamoh ↗ HN
I'm 30 and recently I'm having a severe back pain (most likely sciatica) that has affected all aspects of my life, including my job as a programmer.

A doctor said she wouldn't recommend height-adjustable desks, but I don't know of any other position/way to write code that is easier on the back. Lying on a pillow on the bed usually reduces the pain, but it's harder to type things that way. I even thought about getting an iPad arm for my bed so that I can do my readings while resting on the bed, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea as it'd probably make the back muscles even weaker.

12 comments

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m348e912
I was having crazy neck pain until I switched to a much lower seat. I no longer look slightly downward and it's made a huge difference. There are all sorts of chairs you can look into from the one that's basically an inflatable ball to one where you straddle the seat. But whatever you do, change positions.
moistly
A very large (85cm?) yoga ball & adjusting desk works for me.
daenz
Squats, deadlifts, and a desk with a treadmill underneath. You don't have to go crazy with any of them (no need to try to compete in power lifting). Just keep your body strong by safely using it in the way it was designed to (walking, lifting things).
nickfromseattle
+1 on treadmill desk and weights.

Only thing I can add is to start with dumbbells.

I've always hurt my back on deadlifts / squats when the weight got too heavy for my core.

I do 10x10 squats (18kg dumbbell) and 10x10 deadlifts (30kg dumbbell) 3x week for a total for 300 each per week.

The low weight means I don't hurt myself if my form slips, and the high reps makes up for the low weight.

linsomniac
Maybe a year before the pandemic we all got sitting+standing desks. When we started working from home at the beginning of the pandemic, I bought the same desk fairly quickly because I found that sitting all day, even in a good chair, was really bugging my lower back.

I don't think standing is the key, but changing positions regularly really helps with my back comfort.

For a while I was doing 20/8/2 and liked it. Sit for 20 minutes, stand for 8, walk for 2. Now I'm kind of doing sit and stand for 1h50m, then a brisk walk for 10min/0.5miles.

DoreenMichele
I'm having a severe back pain (most likely sciatica)

The internet tells me:

Sciatica is pain going down the leg from the lower back. This pain may go down the back, outside, or front of the leg. Onset is often sudden following activities like heavy lifting, though gradual onset may also occur. The pain is often described as shooting. Typically, symptoms are only on one side of the body. Certain causes, however, may result in pain on both sides. Lower back pain is sometimes present.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sciatica

I am guessing this means you mean you have low back pain.

In my experience, this is typically due to immune distress and is best alleviated by proper nutritional support for your bone marrow. And upping cleanliness of the area triggering it, so maybe clean your keyboard if it's disgusting (as a guess based on experience working at BigCo).

starwind
Getting a standing desk with a riser for my monitor really helped my back pain and doing planks and push-ups to strengthen my abs and back fixed my posture and eliminated the rest of it.

When I sit down, I also kind of switch it up. Desk chair, couch, high top chairs, and sometimes my bed so the angles don't get too familiar

totoinavessel
Know the ways of your body. Watch your diet. The body copes much better with pain causes of all kinds when in ketosis.

I made the experience that fasting for several days got rid of most pains. Continueing without industrial sugar (best advice ever given to me) and restrict other carbs kept away most problems of that kind.

fbrncci
My home-office pretty much is a weight (monkey) gym with functional weight training tools. Macebells, Clubbells, Kettlebells, pull-up bars, heavy-bag, and heavy exercise balls. Whenever I am in a meeting, and muted, I am swinging or throwing these (or myself) around. I USED to have back-pain, neck pain and arm pain from being a 40h/week remote developer. Once I started exercising during the day, pretty much randomly at any time of the day, that all went away. With an added benefit of farmers strenght and physique. Problems also become a bit easier to solve, after 15 minutes of hitting a heavy bag.
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