This is a topic i can identify wi- "with which i can identify." (lol.)
I played high school football in a small town in TX. I played "line," both ways, and was only ~6' 190lbs., by my junior year. (in other words: not really big enough to play line...)
Before my football years, i was very into skateboarding. (lots of falling and odd motions)
Around age 11-12, i started learning/playing guitar on a regular basis. (constant asymmetrical positioning)
My freshman year of HS ("long story short") (edit: ok, not really), we had 11 grade-eligible guys on JV, all playing every snap, and while on defense, i both took and delivered a direct helmet to helmet crown-hit, and experienced my first neck-related nerve injury. This type of thing happened 2-3 more times in the next 2 seasons. During my Junior year, i had a mild concussion, and another nerve-injury, due to
an illegal, below the knee "cut-block," during a kick-off, which resulted in me doing a vertical "180," and landing directly on top of my head. Luckily, my helmet jammed into my shoulder pads and stopped, before anything more serious occured... but it still caused damage. Same year, I broke my right fibula at the ankle, on the growth-plate, twice; once during a game (next to last game of the season), and again 6-months later trying to rehab for next season. Unfortunately (perhaps not-so-unfortunately), after that 2nd break, i didn't suit up again. My neck has always bothered me, ever since... but my ankle almost never gives me trouble. Only if i "stomp" flat-footed.
Jump ahead to ~4 years later, i was living in Austin, TX, very into "urban bmx," and riding down increasingly large stair-sets. Not "rails" or "grinding," but actually riding down the steps themselves, often at high rates of speed. I was getting ridiculously good at "manualing" (riding a sustained "wheelie" for long distances, often over obstacles), and riding every day, like a
madman.
Around this time, i had also been introduced to a somewhat-well-kept-secret tai-chi/kung-fu "school," in the outskirts.
I learned about mindset, breathing, relaxation, flexibility, posture, positioning, technique, movement, some "actual kung-fu," and even
falls... (a not well known northern shaolin family system, in case anyone is wondering... along with some tai chi, chi kung, and even a bit of yoga. Not saying i'm a "badass" or anything; just that i learned some very useful stuff at a place i'm glad i was allowed to experience.)
And despite all the problems and injuries i've had, the stuff i learned at that place literally changed my life. I didn't even complete "the long form," but what i learned changed the way i approach interactions with everything; including the way i sit, mouse, and type. ^^
So back to "urban bmx;" one day i was "kung-fu-biking" (lol), and i guess my balls were bigger than my eyes, and i rolled up on this 4-section, 32-total-step set, and thought "f'yeah."
So close... but slammed
so hard. Whole left side of my body, meet concrete. Thigh meet cross-bar.
So i get up in a daze, wondering if i had been out longer than a blink... and rode about 1.5 blocks home... and proceeded to leave my bike in the open doorway, collapse on my bed into a "post-concussion-nap," and have a nightmare that i got hit by a car, while riding my bike. When i woke up ~2 hours later, at first i didn't remember what happened, but as i came-to, i started freaking out when i realized that the pain in my dream was
real. For a few panicked moments, i had no idea... until i finally got up and walked out of my room, to see my bike still laying in the open doorway.
"Oh yeah... damn this hurts..."
I could
barely even walk, for the next two weeks. At the time, it seemed terrible... but i eventually got over it.
BUT THEN... (lol)
I moved out of the city, back to the small town, with my best friend from HS, and we got back into skateboards again. By this time, i had learned to be more careful, and could usually avoid serious injuries. Quite a few times i rolled that bad ankle enough to scare myself, but never really messed it up.
We had built a little rampish plywood platform at the house, to avoid the need to drive several miles to anything skateable.
One day, i was trying to learn a heelflip, rolled off a 1' drop, and ended up folding my "back leg" (left) knee sideways. That sh!t was
excruciating. Another 2 weeks of immobility... doc said "sprained MCL;" I said "you mean
tear. That one took...
years... to start feeling "stable" again, without tender soreness. ~10 years later, it still aches sometimes, especially when the seasons change.
So, for a while, i didn't have any new crazy injuries... but almost 3 years ago, i flipped my '95 integra after double-over-correcting, after a "lift-throttle-oversteer" in the middle of a ~40mph curve, pushing 90+.
Could have died. Didn't. Lucky as
hell... but hurt my neck
again. That one still bothers me every day.
The really weird thing is that i didn't even know i was hurt
at all, for about 3 months.
I flipped it, landed on it's wheels, and it even started back up, and i was able to drive it, all smashed up, to within a block of my home, before the damage caused it to swing itself into another ditch at ~20mph, and get stuck there.
Since then... almost
everything has gone wrong in my life... and so on top of all those past injuries, i've struggled with severe depression... which really doesn't help living with nerve damage, in the slightest.
And on top of all this...
my chair sucks too! (lol). It has a slight side-lean. Last thing someone with symmetry issues and nerve damage needs.
What i can recommend for the
topic, is that i fully agree with all the suggestions about "core strength" being of utmost importance, but also emphasize breathing, "active relaxation" (supple; not loose, not tense), and probably most of all, your mental state. You have to be in a reasonably appropriate "comfortable" position, but your mind needs to be comfortable as well... and try not to be static. Get up, move around. Go outside and just breathe some fresh air. Improve your nutrition. Stop worrying. Slow down. Try to let your body find it's own most appropriate position. (i know, some of this is easier said than done) And when your back hurts, be gentle with it. You only get one!
(lol: "fix your chair with your
mind!)
Or, you know, you could maybe check out "bizchair {dot} com" (no affiliation; just found it a week or so ago, and thought "hey, lots of chairs...")
They might have something reasonable that doesn't suck.
Or maybe even something unreasonably awesome. ^^
TL;DR: "my chair also sucks, and my back hurts too. Try to be more careful. Try to be healthier. Breathe. Relax... and stuff. And probably find a chair that doesn't suck, but instead, gently suggests your body into a more appropriate, long-term sitting posture."
