The Guthrie Spine Center

If you are experiencing an extended bout with back pain, your health care provider has at this point made every effort to seek a medical reason for your continued activity limitations. You may already be following an exercise program intended to condition your back, but if this is not helping to decrease the pain, there are three key questions to ask yourself:

• Will exercise help me overcome my back problem?

•Can I begin or continue with a more time-consuming exercise program long-term in order to benefit my back?

• Can I change my activity requirements now or in the future to accommodate my pain?

Depending on your answers to these questions, you can choose to put up with discomfort and expect some set-backs, you can begin a more time-consuming conditioning program, or you change the pace at which you perform difficult activities. This may include a job change. Age is also an important factor to consider. Few middle-aged people have backs that are as strong as they were at age 18. Medical science presently cannot reverse the aging process that limits activities requiring both speed and strength. Young people with back pain may find it hard to accept these limitations. Older people commonly find it difficult to give up or alter activities they have been doing for a long time.

Most of us must adjust our activities as we age, regardless of occupation or level of physical conditioning, many by age 30, most by age 40, and just about all of us by age 50. Some people can continue strenuous activities into their later years, especially if they are able to do it at their own pace. Others may need to consider change.

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