Bad sitting posture, source: Minki Kim Structural Integration
While sitting for long periods of time our bodies may be exposed to the following:
- Organ damage to the heart and pancreas
- Muscle degeneration
- Inflexible spine and disk damage
- Leg disorders
While the aforementioned are usually occurring little to our knowledge, lower back pain when sitting is outlined as a main side effect of being sedentary for long periods of time.
Health professional analysis
As a chiropractor, Nerida Blackstone estimates about 75% of her clients suffer from lower back pain. These people often share one of the following in common:
- They work a job where they sit from 9-5
- They perform inappropriate lifting and repetitive movements
- They don’t exercise or stretch regularly
Correct standing & sitting posture, Source: Charleston Workers Comp.
If you are one of these people, according to Ms. Blackstone, getting your workstation inspected by a workplace health and safety expert is essential to assist in relieving lower back pain when sitting. This is to ensure you are not:
– Over-reaching for your phone
– Hunching over your keyboard
– Looking down to your computer screen
– Bending and twisting to reach your printer
Strategies to reduce lower back pain when sitting
To assist in the management of lower back pain when sitting in the workplace, health professionals and business people have endorsed the following:
- Walking and standing meetings
- Stretching at frequent intervals and getting up every 20 minutes
- A standing desk
Are Standing Desks Good For You?
4,004 hours of sitting per year.
“Working standing at a sit-stand desk is liberating, but having the freedom to adjust the height of our desks to our own unique bodies when sitting is also absolutely crucial for our long-term health. This part isn’t sexy enough either to be mentioned in the hyped-up studies. The one-size fits all approach that desk manufacturers have taken in the past must end.”
