Bloomington · Guide

Standing for four hours is harder than walking for four hours

A stadium day looks like sitting and is mostly standing. Standing still on concrete, often for hours, often cold, with a long walk at either end. People routinely feel worse after a game than after a hike, and the reason is that standing still is genuinely harder on a back than moving is.

Still is the hard part

When you walk, your muscles take turns. When you stand still, the ones holding you upright never get a break, and concrete gives nothing back. Add cold, which makes you tense and pull inward, and you have a few hours of continuous low level load with no recovery inside it.

• Shift your weight deliberately. Change which leg is taking more, often.
• If there is a rail or a step, put one foot up on it and swap. This unloads your lower back more than it has any right to.
• Sit down for the parts you do not care about. Nobody is watching.

The walk in and out

The walk from wherever you parked is the useful bit. Do not rush it at the end when your legs are tired and cold, because that is when people misstep on a kerb.

Cold

Cold muscles are less forgiving of an awkward movement, and a stadium in November is cold for a long time. Layers help your back, not just your comfort.

When it is worth talking to somebody

Stiffness the next day that clears up is normal. Worth a conversation with a qualified provider: back pain that is sharp rather than stiff, anything travelling down a leg, a knee or ankle still swollen after a few days, or a fall on a step or kerb that still hurts later in the week.

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