The Chair Center

 Back pain & sitting in an office chair

The world is changing and as once man used to hunt for a living today they sit in an office. And unfortunately sitting is not the most natural activity and sitting in an office chair causes back pains to many of us. About 80% of all people suffer from back pain and 85% of back pains are in the lower back pain at the lumber area. It is the opinion of many doctors and therapist that incorrect sitting is the main causes for lower back pain. What are common examples of sitting? For example – Driving, watching TV, Reading, sitting in an office (as mentioned above), sitting in front of PC/laptop etc. Any way the below video on Office Chair Yoga Stretches is a great idea – just watch it try. As I wrote below any movement while your sitting still can help remove stiffness and pains. So… what the main causes of back pain from sitting? Read on below about the importance of movement and best practice for correct sitting posture.

Move your body to prevent back pain

Sitting still for hours (even in a good posture) is one of the main causes for back ache. The more you move your body and your back the more it get used. It is  a known fact that Back pain & sitting in an office chair are related – mainly as we spend so much time doing it. When the muscles get used (for example when you’re walking or making gentle back stretches) – blood flows through the muscle, the muscle gets warmer and stiffness that was building in some areas of the muscles dissolves. When you’re sitting for hours the stiffness and associated pain builds up more and more instead of dissolving. I used to live in an old house year ago and in the really cold winter nights the water in the pipes can freeze. The solution was to keep one of the taps open – so that a tiny drizzle of water was dripping – the constant movement of the water stopped it from freezing and getting clogged up. So the recommendation is that if you are sitting allow your elf to walk for about 5 minutes every 30-45 minutes. Try to stand up from time to time – look around – shake/rotate your hands – rotate your ankle – rotate your shoulders – anything that can bring movement will make the blood flow and will help to prevent stiffness and pain.

Correct sitting posture to prevent back pain

The moment that the weight on your back is not distributes evenly, you start crating areas of stress. A good sitting posture does not put any pressure on any specific point in our back but let the whole muscle and skeleton system in the back and body do the work. The moment that your are leaning to one side or sitting with your heads tilted forward (making a question mark shape with your neck) you are creating a huge stress on few specific areas in your back. Usually the one area that takes all the stress is the lower back as most of the back is on top of the lower back.

• Make sure that you got a good ergonomic chair. It is worth spending some money and investing in your health.
• If you are sitting in front of a computer – the top of the screen should be in the height of your eyes.
• Don’t sit with a wallet in your pocket – it makes your lower back tilt to one side.
• Make sure you’re not leaning left or right or twisting yourself to any side.
• Your feet should touch the ground and your knees should be in an angle of 90 degrees. If that is not the case – change the height of your chair (or change the chair). You can alternately put a block of wood or anything solid beneath your feet.

Tip – Drink a glass of water once an hour – this will make you stand up and move and the fresh water will keep the blood flow in your body. It is an amazing fact that drinking constantly through the day help in preventing muscle stiffness and pain.