At least I think it's a posture issue. I'm desperately unfit and have been trying to take at least a short walk every day, but after even a short time I get a severe pain in my back just above my pelvis. I already know I slump and stand with my behind sticking out too much. I've tried changing how I stand, but holding my hips in a way which stops the pain makes it almost impossibly awkward to take a step at all. Anyone know how I can solve this?
I'd strongly suggest you see a doctor or physiotherapist about this, because the reason your back hurts could be really unintuitive. My sister had lower back pain issues, and it turned out to be because of her feet of all things - she has unusually high arches and wasn't getting enough support, so she stood on them funny, so the whole muscle chain up to her back wound up doing atypical things to compensate, which led to her lower back hurting. It could be your feet, too, or your legs, or your hips, or your upper back; it could be that you learned to stand like that due to a problem that you don't have anymore, but your muscles have adapted and now standing in a different way hurts; it could be a pinched nerve (although probably not if it's only after walking). Basically, too many options, more data necessary.
I'd also suggest looking into scoliosis specifically; it can be precipitated by bad posture, and then your spine deforms so that you're, like, permanently stuck in a slump. I think. (I'm not a chiropractor, I just have three friends with scoliosis.) also just fyi the pain you described sounds like it might be in one of your sacroiliac joints, which actually are in your pelvis! but they feel like lower back pain, and mine have pained me severely (in a way that was fixable by positioning myself awkwardly) just because I slept weird, so it's entirely possible that you've got something like that going on. also if it turns out you do have an injury that prevents impact exercise, may I suggest yoga? I don't want to make any assumptions about your mobility otherwise, but one of my friends with scoliosis does it to keep in shape, and it works very well. personally I hate aerobic exercise, so I enjoy it for that reason.
I would highly suggest going straight to a chiropractor! Spinal subluxations can pinch/strain nerves without you feeling them, and the longer you go with subluxations (which basically everyone has, it takes very little to misalign your vertebrae) the more things move to where they shouldn't be. plus, chiropractic care is usually considerably cheaper than physiotherapy. It's a great and relatively cheap place to start; I'd suggest physio if you discover there are muscular/behavioural issues that keep causing the problem (i.e. you're not walking correctly, or the example @budgie gave), but it's awfully hard to get anything moving right if your spine is fucked up. signed, someone who's been using chiropractic care for about a dozen years and is way less fucked up because of it
