Why your back hurts at a desk, and what actually helps

The back is the victim, not the culprit

Eight hours of sitting leaves your hip flexors short and your glutes barely firing. When you finally stand up and move, the lower back takes on work it was never meant to do — and that is what you feel at 5pm.

Stretching the sore spot brings ten minutes of relief. Fixing the hips and glutes brings lasting change.

Three things that help

1. Open the hips. A couple of minutes per side, most days. Consistency beats intensity here by a wide margin.
2. Wake the glutes up. Bridges before you sit down for the day, not after.
3. Break up the sitting. Standing up every 45 minutes does more than one long stretch session in the evening.

Where slow training fits

Tai chi is unusually good for this, because it trains you to move from the hips while staying upright — which is exactly the pattern sitting erases.

None of this is fast. But it is the difference between managing back pain and gradually not having it.