Back pain? Sit less and move more

An exercise routine is healthy but general activity throughout the day could help you to avoid back pain, most likely caused by sitting for long periods of time, writes Gretchen Reynolds.

By now it is pretty well accepted both that physical inactivity is bad — recently linked to 6% of all cases of heart disease worldwide and 11% of all premature deaths in the United States — and that exercise is good, because it tends to increase life span and protect against heart disease.

Yet few studies actually show that exercise reduces the unhealthful impacts of too much sitting. People who work out but also sit for long hours — active couch potatoes, you might say — may often share the same elevated risks for disease and early death as their less active peers.