Read this outstanding article at PJ Media:
There are times when The Conventional Wisdom and The Reality of the Situation are at odds. Our recent presidential election provides a poignant example, as does the idea that running makes you skinny, that little kids always tell the truth, and that we have to pass another law so you’ll stop doing things we don’t like.
Here’s another one: Your back hurts, so you have to rest it, stretch it, go to the chiropractor for 30 visits, and then get your “core” stronger with situps and various odd-looking movements performed on a balance ball, and if that doesn’t work, surgery will. The reality is that your back hurts because you are a bipedal, upright human over the age of 30, you can’t alter this fact, and the best way to make it stop hurting is to make it stronger with squats and deadlifts.
Deadlifts and barbell squats for a low back in pain sounds like the stupidest idea that has ever appeared on PJ Media, I know. It flies in the face of The Conventional Wisdom. The fact is that it works nearly 100% of the time if you do it correctly, and that 90% of the time a stronger back not only stops hurting but also returns you to full unencumbered activity in less than a month.
Read the rest here.