I'm not OP, but when I started run-jog-walking one mile, three days a week (which is a bit more than two minute stairs every day, but still asking muscles, joints, and heart to wake up), that my back pain lessened, some niggling knee tightness stopped bothering me, and I noticed an increase in how long I could go doing something moderately strenuous before craving a rest (e.g. moving boxes, or walking with a heavy object, or running after something or someone). It doesn't have to be a massive lifestyle shift -- walking a couple times a week can give similar benefits. But the jump from "basically sedentary" to "loading muscles and joints and heart for ~20 minutes 2-3x a week" is truly ENORMOUS when it comes to our biological systems, and a lot of those systems start running a lot happier with that.
Exercise is not a panacea, and those who say it will fix everything and cure depression and make you perfect are quacks. But, it pains my contrarian ass to say, some light cardio every now and again is much closer to what our bodies are happy with than desk life, such has been my experience.
I'm not OP, but when I started run-jog-walking one mile, three days a week (which is a bit more than two minute stairs every day, but still asking muscles, joints, and heart to wake up), that my back pain lessened, some niggling knee tightness stopped bothering me, and I noticed an increase in how long I could go doing something moderately strenuous before craving a rest (e.g. moving boxes, or walking with a heavy object, or running after something or someone). It doesn't have to be a massive lifestyle shift -- walking a couple times a week can give similar benefits. But the jump from "basically sedentary" to "loading muscles and joints and heart for ~20 minutes 2-3x a week" is truly ENORMOUS when it comes to our biological systems, and a lot of those systems start running a lot happier with that.
Exercise is not a panacea, and those who say it will fix everything and cure depression and make you perfect are quacks. But, it pains my contrarian ass to say, some light cardio every now and again is much closer to what our bodies are happy with than desk life, such has been my experience.