Eliminated My Back Pain with Tiny Habits

Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 4:09 PM

To: BJ Fogg

Subject: Eliminated back pain

Dear Dr. BJ Fogg,

I enjoyed listening to you on the Life Kit and Armchair Expert podcasts. I want to share a recent experience and "experiment" with you.

From about June 2020 through December 2020, I was pretty sedentary because, COVID.

I had significant back pain in the past.

Starting in December I was getting these little jolts in my lower back, like being touched with a cattle prod. Concerning. Over the course of 3-4 weeks they increased to 2-3 times a day. I didn't want to go to a doc or PT right now because, again, COVID.

I didn't have the energy to do much physical activity, so I determined out how little I could do that I felt like I would stick to, daily.

I settled on 3 yoga poses per day. I put a little sparkly sun sticker on my calendar each day I met my intention. (These make me happy.)

I started enjoying the movement, and now do as many as 5-7 poses some days. I realized about 10 days in that those jolts of pain had gone away.

It's now March 23, 2021 and I do 3-7 poses most days. I've had maybe 2 jolts since January.

Side note: I am right on the borderline for osteoporosis in one of my hips These yoga poses are proven to build bone. So I need to be doing them anyway... doubling up on the positive effect!

It seems silly now because I thought I was going to have to do something dramatic, time-consuming, tedious, and strenuous to eliminate my pain. I almost blew off (just) 3 yoga poses because how could those few movements, taking such little time, possibly help, but they do.

Thank you for unraveling for us a piece of how we as human beings work, and sharing it in a way that is understandable and practical and can make real quality-of-life impact.

Sincerely,

Mary S.