How Routine Behaviors Trigger Back Pain Without You Knowing

Back pain rarely comes from one dramatic moment. Most of the time, it’s the slow grind of spinal compression from the way we sit, sleep, work, and exercise, until one tiny move finally “sets it off.” You'll learn why prolonged sitting can be one of the biggest drivers of chronic back pain, even more than the occasional heavy lift.

We also talk honestly about impact and cardio. Running can be a great stress reliever, but it can also load the spine heavily with every step, which matters if you’re already dealing with disc pain or a bulging disc. Dr. Peduzzi shares practical, low-compression alternatives we often recommend first, like brisk walking on a flat surface, choosing an elliptical over a treadmill, and using pool walking to stay active while reducing pounding.

Sleep gets a full review too, because alignment for eight hours can either help recovery or quietly aggravate your back and neck. We cover side sleeping and back sleeping strategies, pillow placement to reduce pressure, why stomach sleeping can create problems, and what to look for in a supportive mattress and the right pillow height. We also connect the dots between stress, inflammation, anti-inflammatory diet choices, posture breakdown, and why core engagement makes yoga and Pilates safer for many people. 

If back pain is slowing you down, listen through, share it with someone who sits or drives all day, and then take a moment to subscribe and leave a review so more people can find natural, non-surgical back pain help. What habit do you want to change first?

To learn more about American Back Centers visit:
https://www.AmericanBackCenters.com
American Back Centers 
103 Bradford Rd, Wexford, PA 15090  
724-935-3300 

Transcript

Welcome And Show Purpose

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Back Talk Podcast, where we talk about your facts with Back Talk Back to you. Hosted by Dr. Fitz, Director of American Backstar. Each episode explores real solutions for back pain using non-invasive, non-surgical care designed to help you avoid spinal surgery. Helping people throughout the greater Pittsburgh area feel better naturally without the hardware or the drama.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Small everyday habits can quietly fuel chronic back pain, and most people have no idea they are the cause. Welcome back. I'm Julie Schwenzer, co-host and producer with Dr. Peter Padozzi, Clinic Director at American Back Centers. Dr. Padozzi, it's always good to have you here. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Glad to be here.

Daily Habits That Worsen Pain

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Yeah, so if we could um dive into this question, what are some of the daily habits that make back pain worse without people realizing it?

SPEAKER_02 0:56

I mean, some of the common sense stuff is, you know, lifting heavy objects, you know, whether it's in your youth, you know, all the things that add up to the traumas throughout life. But more of the things that people don't realize is the prolonged sitting, sitting in a desk, sitting in a car, sitting in a truck. The prolonged sitting creates more compressive damage to the spine than anything else. We recommend people use the standing desk, you know, get up and move around throughout the day. Those are big things. And another thing that a lot of people don't realize is the wear and tear that you have with running. The uh when you're running, you're compressing the spine three to four times your body weight into the spine. So I tell I tell runners, you know, enjoy running, but you're gonna have knee problems and you're gonna have back problems uh throughout life because that creates a lot of compression on the spine as well. So it's all about that compression on the spine and sitting uh definitely creates the most positive compression on the spine.

Sleep Positions That Protect Your Spine

SPEAKER_01 1:52

What about people who who lay down a lot or the so-called uh couch potato?

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Well, I mean, laying down is actually not bad, but I mean uh doing nothing and staying in one position, you know, bed rest when you have a condition is not a good thing. It can make things worse because you have to be somewhat active. But as far as if if you're talking about sleeping positions as well, sleeping on your back or your side is the best. Uh sleeping on your stomach can create a lot of problems in the back and the neck because of the sagging of the spine. So we don't recommend that.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Is that why for like pregnant women too, they always, you know, the doctors always recommend that you sleep on your side? Does that have any more?

SPEAKER_02 2:33

On your side, and you put a pill between your knees, that takes some of the pressure off your back. And if you're on your back, uh put a pill behind the back of your knees. Uh elevating the legs, that takes pressure off the back. But for a pregnant woman, that side sleeping is preferred.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Yes.

Movement And Posture For Long-Term Health

SPEAKER_01 2:48

And then um, what about other lifestyle changes that support long-term spinal health? Any recommendations?

SPEAKER_02 2:57

I mean, uh just you know, changing your position throughout the day, that's one of the biggest thing things. These prolonged postures throughout the day, whether you're standing in one position, sitting all day long, those are the that's where you have the problems. Because when you have these long-term postures, you're developing muscle weakness, you're developing whether it's rounded shoulder posture, forward head posture, putting stress on your neck, mid-back, compressing your spine through sitting all day long, standing in one position. These prolonged postures set the stage for dysfunction of the body. So we show patients, you know, we advocate movement throughout the day, but also we will strengthen those weak areas and stretch some of the overly used areas to balance out that posture to prevent these problems and help deal with these problems.

Pillow And Mattress Support Basics

SPEAKER_01 3:49

And if we could go back to the laying down and the sleeping positions, um, is there anything that you recommend that we should look out for, a mattress quality or um anything with the pillows?

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Yeah, I mean, the thing with the thing with, well, we'll talk about the pillows first is you when you're on your back, you want something that's gonna support the natural concave curvature of your neck when you're on your back, promoting that curvature because when you lose that curvature, that can set the stage for uh compression of the neck and problems of arthritis of the neck as well. When you're on your side, you want to keep your head neutral. So you don't want your head flexed or extended at all. You want it to be neutral. And of course, you don't want the sleep on your stomach. Well, as far as talking about the mattress, you want to stay on the firmer side. I mean, you can get a pillow top to get some softness, but ultimately you want the foundation part of the mattress to be firm and supporting you. So when you're turning in bed or when you're moving around, or when you get up out of bed in the morning, you have that support. The old water beds and the old, you know, the softbeds are just horrible because they give you no support whatsoever.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Yeah, you know, that's interesting you say that because you don't really see too much um advertisements or anything for waterbeds.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

I think they liked them because they were warm, you could heat up the water and that's about it. You know, and then people realized it was not good for your back at all.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

And

Safer Cardio When Discs Flare

SPEAKER_01 5:11

if we could talk about like age and when it matters, you know, we hear this uh a lot, like, you know, especially maybe for women maybe slightly younger, but like, you know, vigorous cardio is not recommended, walking is recommended, weights are recommended. Does that have any impact on the back? Because you you were talking about running earlier and how you say to runners.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Yeah, when somebody when somebody has a uh a disc problem that comes in their office, we recommend they only initially now walk on a flat surface like a high school track. You know, you can walk briskly, walk on an elliptical machine rather than a treadmill, because even with the treadmill, you can have the compression, the pounding um as well. Uh definitely not running or jogging, especially initially, until we get things under control. And then walking in a swimming pool, your buoyant in the water, so you don't have that compression. So if you can find a pool that's only like three or four feet deep that you can walk from end to end, that's beneficial. Or you can use one of those weighted belts or a floaty and just move around in the water too. You're not having that compression on the spine. So that's that's typically what we recommend, at least initially, for exercise for patients.

What Throwing Out Your Back Means

SPEAKER_01 6:21

And then when someone throws out their back, what's actually happening? Because it could be someone picking up a remote control and then it happens.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

Well, typically it doesn't happen in that one incident. That may be the straw that breaks the camel's back and sets off the symptoms, but the condition itself, the compression of the spine, that bulging disc doesn't happen. It doesn't bulge or herniate due to one incident. It's accumulation of incidents over time, traumas over time that initially, I should say eventually sets it off, and you know, it's the straw that breaks the camel's back per se, and sets off the actual symptoms, but that condition was probably undergoing, you know, brewing in the body for many, many months prior to that episode of pain.

Stress And Diet Driven Inflammation

SPEAKER_01 7:07

And I know you've touched on stress before in previous episodes, but how does that impact everything?

SPEAKER_02 7:13

I mean, stress comes in many, many, many, many uh uh, many, many facets per se, chemical, physical, emotional stress, stress from you know habit life, workplace stress, you know, the the foods that we eat uh promote can promote inflammation. We give our uh patients that come in here guides on that. We have an anti-inflammatory diet. So you're not promoting that inflammation through your diet. Then of course, all the things that we do, as as we just mentioned, the stresses to our body, you know, whether it's through uh work-related lifting, um, auto accidents, trauma through playing sports throughout your life, lifting, all these things add up over time and contribute to the problem.

Pilates And Yoga Done Safely

SPEAKER_01 7:56

What do you think about Pilates or yoga uh for people of any age?

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Is that I mean I think it can be good. I mean, there's certain movements that you just want to be careful with, especially bending over at the waist, because that will create a lot of compression of the spine. But as long as you're engaging your core, and we teach our patients to engage the core throughout their movements, you're strengthening the core by doing that, but also you're protecting the back. So certain things you want to do, uh especially carefully, and certain things you may want to avoid with Pilates or yoga. But all in all, I think those are both good uh choices.

Curvature Differences And Disc Risk

SPEAKER_01 8:34

And is there any big differences you see for women versus men in terms of what maybe they need to focus on, like going from middle-age to uh the more senior people? As far as uh with women and men, uh Yeah, like anything more compromised for women at a different time in in their life than men, or do we need to look out for the same stuff?

SPEAKER_02 8:57

I mean, I think it's pretty much the same stuff. I mean, in general, I think the people that have less of a curvature in their lower back or more prone to disc problems already because they don't have that curve. So that's why we promote curvature both in the neck and the back, because when you lose that curvature, a lot of times you lose it when you have muscle guarding from a problem. Or, like I just mentioned, a lot of thinner women or thinner men have less of a curvature in their back, and that makes them even more prone to disc problems than a normal person. And then promoting that curvature through exercise that we give to our patients, core strengthening and so on will help promote that curvature.

Real Patient Wins Without Surgery

SPEAKER_01 9:38

And then a last question for you. Um, could you share an example of a patient that came in recently that changed his or her lifestyle um while you were seeing them and you saw a huge difference in their pain levels?

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Oh, yeah. I mean, we have a lot of patients come in here with very, very poor lifestyles. They, you know, they they may be severely overweight, whatever it may be, you know, and just their whole lifestyle in general uh will obviously put them on the anti-inflammatory diet and losing weight, exercise. But more and more, you know, most of the people that come in here are in severe pain. So they, in some cases, they have severe pain down their legs, they have difficulty walking, they have weakness, and they're on the verge of surgery, or they've had surgery and it didn't work for them. And in many cases, we're able to change their lives by allowing them to golf again, enjoy their grandchildren, enjoy their children again, because now their life is pain-free and they don't have to undergo the potential complications with surgery. So, yeah, we've had many cases where people were in severe, severe pain and severe disability, and now they have their life back and they're pain-free without surgery.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Yeah, that's wonderful news. I'm sure that you guys receive a lot of gifts and cards, thank you cards at your clinic.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Uh that there is a safe alternative to surgery. And they did it themselves.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

That's great. Referrals are definitely one of the best gifts any business can have. Well, Dr. Paduzi, we always appreciate your time and thank you for helping so many patients. We appreciate you. Well, thank you so much.

Natural Care And How To Book

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Thanks for listening to the Back Talk Podcast. If back pain is slowing you down or boxing you around, it may be time for a natural approach that works. Call 724-935-3300 to schedule a consultation with one of the doctors at American Backs. Or AmericanBacks.