There are so many things that could go wrong to cause lower back pain. We have joints that have a primary responsibility to move. We also have joints that have a primary responsibility to keep things stable. The lumbar spine’s job is to primarily stabilize the surrounding areas of the torso, allowing the hip and thoracic spine (upper back) to move freely as possible. When complications arise, the hip and thoracic spine lose the ability to travel through the range of motion the joints are capable of achieving. When the hip and thoracic spine lose their range of motion, the body asks for more range of motion from the lumbar spine, which is not its job. One popular complication in the mature crowd stems from decades of sitting. Sitting without good posture (slouching) can cause the lumbar to remain in a flexed position, meaning you lose your natural arch in your lower back. Extended sitting is also more stressful for the lower back in general. Imagine yourself standing. Even though your calves and upper leg muscles are not moving, they are working to some degree helping to hold up the top half of your body. Now picture yourself sitting. Think of how little sitting taxes your legs. Little to no energy at all, right? So where does the force go? You guessed it! You are only holding up the top half of your body by distributing force to your bottom/lower back. Now I’m not telling you to go buy a stand up desk because standing with bad posture isn’t necessarily a great alternative. I’m simply saying be mindful of your posture. I know, I know, “But keeping good posture is exhausting!” Well my reply comes from experience, I’ve been weak before. I noticed the stronger I got, the better my posture was. Also, staying in good posture was easier. To get tips on how to make sitting less stressful, read the “Sitting Comfortably: Sitting doesn’t need to hurt” article on this page. To get stronger, contact a competent health professional.