1h Protocol to Manage Back Pain
What will help your back day to day? Find out in one hour.
The usual tips help for a day or two, then it comes back. In one hour, you see why it keeps coming back, and leave with a plan built from your own answers.
First chapter free. No account needed to start.Version
How a 1h Protocol works
This is the hour where it changes. You stop guessing, see why it keeps coming back, and build your plan from your own answers: a few small changes, and fourteen days to try them.
- 1
Free chapter
Start from your last bad back day
A quick check for warning signs comes first. Then a few short questions about how your back days go. Days like these:
- •You bend for a sock, and it catches.
- •A good day catching up on everything, then a day or more paying for it.
- •Hours at the wheel, then out of the car in one stiff piece.
- 2
Free chapter
Find your back-day pattern
Your answers point to one of four patterns, or the Tune-up. Each has its own starting point, and you get one thing to do tomorrow.
- •The BraceYou've stopped things, or do them very carefully. You start with one of them, done small.
- •The Big DayA big day, then a flare a day or two later. You start by cutting the next big day into pieces.
- •The Long Still DayPain builds over long sitting or driving. You start by getting up for a minute after each task.
- •The Volume KnobBad days follow a poor night or a heavy week. You start by moving gently first after a poor night.
- •The Tune-upNo single trigger. You start with a short walk, at a pace where you can talk.
- 3
Paid chapters
Understand why, then plan
Seven chapters show why it keeps coming back and walk one back day with you, at your own times. Then they plan a flare, the days after it, and the days that don't go to plan.
- 01Why it keeps coming backSee the Alarm, the Guard and the Load in your own last bad day, and clear up the myths.
- 02One back dayWalk one back day, from getting up to the next day, and fit seven habits to your own times.
- 03Your patternWork on your pattern, with changes that fit it and one person's two weeks with them.
- 04When your back goesPlan the first hours of a flare, a smaller day you can still keep, and one line in your own words.
- 05The days after a flareCarry a flare through the next days: what to hand over, what to tell people, and how to build back from one step lower.
- 06When things get in the wayPick the hard day most likely to break your plan, decide now what you'll do on it, and what a ✗ morning means.
- 07Your planSet your two-week sign, see your plan on one page, and save your flare card, sheet and calendar reminders.
- 4
Yours for life
Leave with your plan
A protocol is a short plan for your back days: what to do, when, and what to do when your back goes. Built from what the evidence supports, fitted to your own day, with fourteen days to try it.
- ✓Two or three things to start now, each with an alternative for harder days
- ✓The rest kept for later, so nothing piles up
- ✓Why each change matters, with the evidence behind it
- ✓Your flare plan, and one line in your own words for when your back goes
- ✓A flare card for your lock screen
- ✓Fourteen days to try it, with a sheet, reviews on days 7, 14 and 30, and four one-tap check-ins by email if you're signed in
Key sources
A selection of the research, official guidance and expert voices this program draws on.
- World Health Organization: Low back pain, fact sheet (2023)
- NICE: Low back pain and sciatica in over 16s (NG59)
- NHS: Back pain (2026)
- NHS inform: Back problems (2026)
- Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care: Low Back Pain Clinical Care Standard, for consumers (2022)
- GBD 2021 Low Back Pain Collaborators: The global burden of low back pain (2023)
- Hartvigsen et al.: What low back pain is and why we need to pay attention, The Lancet (2018)
- Brinjikji et al.: Scan findings in people without back pain, a review of 33 studies (2015)
- Wallwork et al.: How new and long-lasting low back pain changes over time, a meta-analysis (2024)
- Pocovi et al.: Walking to prevent back pain coming back, the WalkBack trial (2024)
- Dahm et al.: Bed rest versus staying active for new low back pain, a Cochrane review (2010)
- Verbeek et al.: Lifting advice and back pain in workers, a Cochrane review (2011)
- Heneweer et al.: Physical activity and low back pain, a systematic review (2011)
- Baradaran Mahdavi et al.: Sitting, driving and low back pain, a meta-analysis (2021)
- Gerhart et al.: Sleep and next-day pain in long-lasting low back pain, a diary study (2017)
- Kovacs et al.: Mattress firmness and long-lasting low back pain, a trial (2003)
- Lorimer Moseley: Why things hurt, TEDxAdelaide (2011)
- Peter O'Sullivan on Feel Better, Live More (2024)
- Greg Lehman: Do you need to worry about spine flexion and low back pain? (2020)
- Robin Nürnberg on the Coach Stef Podcast, in German (2025)
This is a wellness program about everyday movement and back-pain habits, not health care. It doesn't give medical advice, and it doesn't diagnose or treat anything. It's for adults 18 and over.
Questions
About the program, and about back pain itself.
Yours for life
Your back plan
$19.99this program, one time
No subscription · Lifetime access · Lifetime updates
or start with the first chapter, freeBack pain advice is free everywhere. Why pay for this?
Most advice is a list of rules: rest it, sit properly, lift carefully. Here you start from your own pattern and your own day. Each change is small, fits a moment you already have, and comes with an alternative for harder days.
Is this medical advice?
No. It's a wellness program about everyday movement and back-pain habits, not health care. It doesn't diagnose or treat anything. A quick check for warning signs comes first, and if one applies, the program asks you to get checked before you start.
Who is it for?
Adults 18 and over with a lower or middle back that keeps hurting or coming back. It isn't built for the neck, or for back pain in pregnancy. If you've had back surgery recently, follow the advice of the team that treated you.
I'm busy. How much time does it take?
About an hour, once, to build your plan, after the free part. Then you try your plan for fourteen days and keep what works. Each day's row on your sheet takes about a minute.
Do I need to buy anything?
No. No mattress, chair, belt or brace, and no app. Everything works with what you already have.
What do I pay, and what do I keep?
One payment, with no subscription. It unlocks the full program and your plan, and it stays yours to come back to. The first chapter is free, so you see your pattern before you pay.
About back pain
Is it normal for back pain to keep coming back?
Yes, it's common. Most people have back pain at some point, and in about nine cases out of ten no single cause can be pinned down. About 1 in 3 people have another bout within a year of getting better. Coming back doesn't mean something is wrong.
How long does a back pain flare last?
For many people, a new bout eases a lot within about six weeks. Researchers who study flares define one as a worsening that lasts from hours to weeks, and then it passes. If a new flare isn't getting better after a few weeks, keeps getting worse, or worries you, see a doctor.
Should I rest when my back hurts?
Short rests are fine, but long spells in bed can slow recovery. With new back pain, people who kept going with their day did a little better than people told to rest in bed. So keep a smaller version of your day: ease off a little, but don't stop.
Does a scan show what's wrong with my back?
Often not. In a review of 33 studies, more than a third of people in their twenties with no back pain had disc changes, and by eighty nearly all did. Guidance for back pain doesn't advise routine scans; they're usually only needed to rule out a serious cause.
Is bad posture causing my back pain?
No posture is a proven cause. People with and without back pain stand with the same curve. What goes with back pain is staying still for long, so the answer is moving often, even for a minute at a time.
Do I have to lift with a straight back?
In workplace trials, teaching people how to lift didn't prevent back pain, and a rounded back when lifting isn't a proven cause. Lift the way that feels comfortable, and build up what you lift bit by bit.
Is a firm mattress better for back pain?
Harder isn't better. In one trial, a medium-firm mattress did better than a firm one for long-lasting back pain. The best bed is one you sleep well on.
When should I see a doctor about back pain?
Get medical help straight away if your bladder or bowels change, you lose feeling around your genitals or bottom, both legs feel weak or numb, or the pain started after a serious fall or accident. See a doctor first if you have a fever, you've had cancer, you've lost weight without trying, or the pain is worse at night. The program starts with this check.