Fix Your Back: Understanding the Risks of Resting

A Problem as Old as Humanity

Low back pain is as old as humans themselves.

For millions of years, our spines evolved to operate in a horizontal plane, loaded mainly by shear forces. Then we stood upright — and everything changed.

Now the spine is loaded vertically, under compression, accelerating wear on the discs that separate each vertebra. Those discs were never designed to carry that kind of load. They evolved to allow complex, multi-directional movement — not to absorb the repetitive shock forces of modern life.

Combine that degeneration with a dense network of hypersensitive spinal nerves, and it’s no surprise that back pain is one of the most common physical complaints in existence.

The Numbers Behind the Pain

In New Zealand, low back and spinal injuries are the leading cause of work-related injury claims, with 39,700 cases in 2024 for the abdomen/low back region alone (Stats NZ / ACC).

Musculoskeletal injuries — which include back pain — make up nearly half of all injury claims where workers are off for more than a week.

This isn’t new information. Everyone knows it — and almost everyone tries to monetise it.

From physiotherapy and general practice to surgery, chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, psychology, and meditation — all promise the way out of the hell that is lower back pain.

Treating Pain ≠ Fixing the Problem

But stop and think for a moment.

If you break your arm, you put it in a cast and let it heal. That’s it. There’s no massage, no special breathing technique, no pill that speeds it up.

So why do we accept a dozen “fixes” for the same back injury?

Because most treatments reduce pain, not solve the problem.

And the real problem is that spines degenerate with age — and resting only makes that process worse.

Resting leads to muscular atrophy (weakening), which leaves your back even more vulnerable. A weak structure is more prone to damage than a strong one — and takes longer to repair.

If you’re being responsible, the only real option is to strengthen your back. Like any other system in the human body, it deteriorates over time. Your job is to slow that decline — by training it, not avoiding it.

You’re Not Injured — You’re Sore

Let’s clear something up. I’m not talking to the person who’s just come off a motorbike accident with a fractured vertebra. I’m talking to the person who “threw their back out” watering the garden or washing the car.

You’re not injured. You’re sore.

Maybe really sore — it might even be the worst pain of your life. But you’re not broken.

That should be encouraging, not frightening.

Because if you’re not injured, you can start fixing the pain — and the problem — right now.

The MRI Trap

You might say:

“But I am injured — I have a disc herniation or a slipped disc.”

Don’t say that. Discs don’t “slip” like CDs popping out of a stack. It takes serious force and time for a disc to bulge or degenerate.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

If you tweak your back washing the car, then get an MRI that shows a disc bulge — that bulge was already there. The washing only caused the pain, not the injury.

A 1995 study scanned 98 people who had no back pain at all.

Only 36% had normal discs. The rest showed bulges, degeneration, or herniation — but felt completely fine.

That’s why imaging is dangerous.

If you see a bulge, it’s easy to feel defeated — especially when a surgeon says surgery is the only fix. But it’s not.

The Positive Reframe

If your disc was already bulging before the pain started, that means you were pain-free with a bulge.

That’s your proof — and your motivation — that you can be pain-free again.

So strengthen your back, no matter what condition it’s in.

You’ll have setbacks at times — that’s normal.

The more you train it, the stronger and more resilient it becomes.

The Real Risk: Resting

Understand this clearly:

Resting an uninjured but sore back is not a low-risk option.

Prolonged rest will only make you weaker and increase the chance of re-injury the moment you start moving again.

A strong back is your best protection.

And the only way to build one — is to use it.

Need help building your back strength safely? Book a consultation and get a plan built around your spine, not just your pain.