Latest / Neck & Back Surgery Answers with Dr. Leonard Kibuule / 5 Everyday Mistakes That Can Harm Your Spine

Transcript

5 Everyday Mistakes That Can Harm Your Spine · Neck & Back Surgery Answers with Dr. Leonard Kibuule

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: As a spine surgeon, I see a lot of people who are extremely careful about the wrong things for their back.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: They worry about mattresses, how straight they're sitting, or whether one awkward movement is going to throw their back out while missing the habits that I pay much more attention to.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that is what makes this tricky is the most of the mistakes feel completely harmless in the moment, but mistake number five is especially easy to miss.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Dr.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Leonard Kabule.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm an orthopedic spine surgeon and I'm going to show you five everyday mistakes I would change first, why they matter, and what to do instead.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Mistake number one, waiting until your back forces you to move.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: You've probably had this happen.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: You're sitting at your desk for an hour or two and you've been driving for a while, and everything feels fine until finally you stand up.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Then those first few steps that you take feel really stiff.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you bent forward a little, maybe you have to walk around a bit before your back feels like it allows you to straighten out again.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: And the first thought is usually, I need a better chair, or my posture must be terrible.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe, but a lot of time the bigger issue is simply that you stayed in one position for just long enough for your back to start complaining.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: There is no perfect sitting position that makes your spine happy for eight hours.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can have an expensive ergonomic chair, perfect lumbar support, your monitor at exactly the right height, and still feel lousy if you stay sedentary and never move.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: So rather than obsessing over sitting perfectly, I would pay more attention to how long you're sitting and staying still.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know your back starts getting stiff after 45 minutes.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Don't wait until 90 minutes before you can barely stand up comfortably.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Get up earlier, walk to the kitchen, take a phone call while you're standing, or change positions before your body starts making demands that you move.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And this matters even more if you spend most of your time sitting because that leads directly into the next mistake.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Mistake number two, trying to cram a week's worth of activity into a Saturday.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is incredibly common.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Monday through Friday, you're at your desk in the car or sitting in meetings most of the day.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Then Saturday morning comes around and you're suddenly doing everything.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: You mow the lawn, you pull up weeds, you move bags of mulch, clean out the garage, and play eight holes of golf, or finally get back to the gym after not going there for three months.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: At 10 in the morning, you are feeling fine.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: By noon, your back is starting to tighten.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: But you're almost finished, so keep going.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is usually where people get into trouble.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is not the yard work, it's not playing golf, it's not lifting weights.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is going from very little activity to several hours of bending, reaching, twisting, carrying, or lifting without giving your body much time to adjust.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: I see the same thing in the gym.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Someone who hasn't trained in months but mentally still remembers how much they used to lift, so their first return to working out becomes a test instead of a pleasurable return to the activity.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: I would much rather see somebody stay moderately active throughout the week and build up their endurance than spend five days doing almost nothing and then trying to make up for it all in a single day or the weekend.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you know you have a big Saturday of activity coming, break it up, change tasks, take a few minutes to rest before your back is exhausted, not after.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you're going back to the gym, start by lifting lighter weights than you intended, and then gradually increase the weight to your targeted number.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because once your back is tired, there is another mistake most people make that can turn a normal day into a flare-up very quickly.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Mistake number three, ignoring the I should probably stop moment.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is the one more thing mistake.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: One more box, one more set, one more wheelbarrow of mulch, one more suitcase you know is heavier than it should be, but you don't want to make two trips.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Your back is already tired, you're rushing, and instead of changing how you're doing your job, you decide you just want to finish it.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: That is often where your movements get sloppier without you even realizing it.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: You reach further because you don't want to walk around the car, you grab something heavy away from your body instead of pulling it closer, you twist because moving your feet feels like one extra step.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: None of those movements are automatically dangerous.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want people to be afraid to bend or rotate their spine, but fatigue changes things.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: When the muscles around your back are tired and you're still asking them to control heavy or do awkward movements or carry awkward loads, your margin of error gets very, very much smaller.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: So when you notice yourself rushing, straining, or thinking, I just need to get one last thing done, that is actually a good time to rest.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Move closer to what you're lifting.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Break the load into two trips, ask somebody for a little bit of help.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Take five minutes and come back to it.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: That is not about babying your back, it's about recognizing when your body is already telling you the job is getting harder.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: If this is helpful, subscribe to the channel.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to keep breaking that down to what actually matters for your back and neck and what people tend to worry about too much.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the warning signs I would pay closer attention to before a small problem turns into a bigger one.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because the next mistake usually happens after your back has already flared up.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And most people often make it because they think they're protecting themselves.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Mistake number four, treating your back like it's broken after a flare-up.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Your back goes out on a Saturday.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Sunday morning, you wake up stiff, and now every movement feels suspicious.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: So you cancel your workout, you lay on the couch, you ask somebody else to pick up things for you, you stop bending, stop walking, and start moving through the house like there's a wrong step that's going to happen, and you're gonna end up in the emergency room.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: I understand why people do that.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: I get it.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: When your back hurts badly, movement can feel very threatening.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: And for the most part, for a short period of time, backing off whatever clearly aggravated it may be reasonable.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: But for a lot of our routine back flare-ups, complete rest is not what I want you to do either.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: The longer you stop moving, the stiffer you tend to become.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: The muscles around the spine start doing less, and normal movements can begin to feel harder simply because you've been moving and now you're avoiding moving.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I would rather you keep doing what you can do in a reasonable fashion.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Walk around the house, take a short walk outside, change positions instead of laying in one spot for hours.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: As things settle down, gradually start doing more.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean pushing through everything or anything your body throws at you.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: If every walk suddenly sends pain further down your leg, numbness is spreading, or weakness shows up, that is no longer just a sore back that needs a little less movement.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that brings us to the mistake I care the most about.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Mistake number five, waiting for the pain to become unbearable while you're losing function.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the patients I worry about the most are not the ones telling me their pain is 10 out of 10.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: They're the ones who say it really doesn't hurt that badly.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then I find out that their foot is starting to drag and one leg feels weaker than the other, or they've been dropping things in one hand or the other for the past month.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Pain is allowed.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Loss of function can be much quieter.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have a back problem, I want you to pay attention to what your body can still do.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Can you still walk on your heels or on your toes normally?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Does one leg clearly feel weaker than the other?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Is your foot starting to catch on the ground as you're walking?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: If the problem is in your neck, has your grip strength changed?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Are you dropping things?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Are buttons, handwriting, or small movements suddenly becoming more difficult?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: These changes matter because now we may be dealing with a nerve that is not just irritated, it may actually be losing function.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that is not something I want somebody to ignore for months just because the pain is tolerable.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: The same goes for new bowel or bladder problems.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Numbness around the groin or saddle area or rapidly worsening weakness are definitely concerning.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Those deserve an urgent evaluation.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you take one thing away from this video, it's do not judge everything by how much it hurts.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Pay attention to what your body can still do.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, what would you actually change?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: I would not spend your day trying to move perfectly.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: I would not obsess over finding the perfect chair or perfect mattress or perfect posture.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: I would pay more attention to patterns.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you stay in one position until your back gets stiff or you move earlier, if most of your week is inactive and then you're trying to do everything in one day, spread the work out and build back into activity.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you're tired and rushing through the last part of your job, make it easier on yourself or instead of forcing it.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: And if your back flares up, keep moving within reason rather than treating yourself like you're injured beyond repair.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: But above all, pay attention to function.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: If your strength is good and you're moving normally and the symptoms are improving, that gives us much more room to treat things conservatively.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you're getting weaker, losing sensation, or having trouble doing things your body normally should do, I would get that evaluated rather than continuing to wait.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: The goal is not to spend your life protecting your spine.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's to keep your back and your neck healthy enough that you can work, exercise, travel, play golf, pick your kids or your grandkids up, and do normal life without having to think about spending the time every day thinking about your spine.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you're dealing with back pain or neck pain and you're not sure whether what you're feeling is something you can work through or something that deserves a closer look, my team at Premier Orthopedics and Spine Health can help you sort through that.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: You can find the information to schedule an evaluation or a second opinion in the description below.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: And if your back pain is coming with sciatica from a herniated disc, watch my video on when actually you would need surgery for a herniated disc.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'll show you some signs that make me comfortable continuing to wait and the ones that can make the decision more urgent and encourage you to see someone to address the problem.