Reddit reviews Angel Sales PosturePro Lumbar Support

Look into bodywork and exercises such as

Rolfing

Feldenkrais method

Tai chi, Baguazhang, or Xingyi -- martial arts specializing in posture and mechanics

Yoga

Pilates

Range of motion, like this or this

Nearly any exercise will help with posture. Do you like to play basketball? Go play. Skateboard? Go skate. The simplest and cheapest exercise -- and IMO the best for posture work -- is simply walking. Go for a lengthy walk multiple times a week, keeping awareness of your balance and mechanical efficiency.

Learn the basics of human anatomy: the shape of the spine from the coccyx to the brain, the major muscle groups, and explore / expand joint range of motion. A little gentle stretching goes a long way to good posture.

In the end, good posture comes down to this: Alignment with gravity at all times. Gaining awareness of how gravity pulls on each piece of your body is very helpful. In advanced stages sometimes it might feel like gravity actually makes you stand upright instead of pulling you down; this is ideal, or close to it.

Semi-advanced knowledge: the body's shape is held through a combination of bone/ligament structure (how we usually think of the body, as a system of levers) and tensegrity. While humans typically build things through the former method, nature almost always build things according to the latter, so it is an important concept to understand.

The fascia tissue is important in this concept (the thin white 'gristle' you see on your steak). These two clips offer a brief explanation of tensegrity as it relates to the human body. While looking for these clips, I came across this series of exercises. It looks interesting, but I cannot vouch for its effectiveness or ineffectiveness.

edit also, you may want to look into getting a new chair. 99% of desk chairs are horrible for posture. If you don't want to drop a bunch of cash, you can get something like this instead.

I had the same problem until i bought this.

Back used to hurt a lot from sitting on my computer chair. This definitely helps.

Here's your sub-$5 salvation

http://www.amazon.com/Angel-Sales-PosturePro-Lumbar-Support/dp/B000AP0HY4/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1398201155&sr=8-6&keywords=lumbar+support

Because the chairs at work are shitty and I work 9-15 hour days

This helps me.

It allows for the air (either A/C or windows down) to cool your back while you drive because it keeps your back (obviously) off the back of the seat. Also, it has excellent support, so it helps you practice good posture.

I just got operated for a lumbar disk hernia but it was much worse than yours. But also my problem was L4-L5 as shown into your picture.

I am not a doctor but I spent months of researching and trying to avoid surgery and I just did it right in time before it got worse because it started to affect me more.

I couldn't see your whole MRI gdrive on phone but based on the first photo I see it is a lumbar disk hernia without nerve compression (yet). I can not tell if yours is yet operable or not but for sure your actions will be limited for a very long time (i tried to stay positive and not say forever). You should avoid carying any weight at all and don't jump, don't run, don't do sudden moves. These are the things my doctor said to me. Also, a very good advice he gave me, I suggest you a lumbar chair support for your spine and the position to always be with your body standing on your back as much as you can and not in the 90 degrees position with your ass dirrectly on the chair. That puts a lot of pressure on the already damaged spine and this is why you have these pains. It is a serious matter because you can cause a bigger rupture and the disk can get out more and press on your nerves and trust me you'd chose death before those pains. It is incredibly, horribly painful and please forgive me i don't intend to scare you, i am about your age. I just hope you will learn from my mistakes. I also had an accident and i chosed to ignore the consequences that on the long term got me worse.

If your doctor recommends you surgery, do it. Your young body can heal much faster and on a long term you will be totally fine. Of course you'll go through a period of recovery as I am now, but you will feel much better and your spine will begin to heal.

this is the support i am talking about. Trust me it is so much worth it. You can search for this. My
Doctor recommended me this support and now i use it everywhere, i will use it in my car too when i will drive again!

Stay confident and be optimistic. You will be fine! Follow your doctor's instructions!