Is Sitting Down Too Long At The Office The Cause Of Your Back Pain?

Chairs, whether office chairs, lab chairs, school chairs, home chairs or sofas are meant to provide us maximum comfort so that we can perform the desired functions or enjoy our free time. Unfortunately, this is not always true and there is more and more evidence showing that prolonged sitting whether at home or office can be seriously hazardous to general health. Experts now link back pain to prolong sitting, So, is sitting down too long at the office the cause of your back pain?

Lower back pain from sitting too much?

The human body is not designed to maintain a particular posture such as standing or sitting for a long periods. Prolonged sitting is now considered to be one of the main causes of back pain. According to the experts, your back is exposed to 90% more pressure in a sitting posture versus standing position. Sitting in a hunched over position or a slouched position aggravates the condition further exposing your discs to more strain and pressure. The more time we spend in a sitting position, the more we begin to slouch. A normal healthy lower back has a small inverse arch that helps to keep our body in an upright and stable position. However, when we slouch, this inverse arch is altered and puts a lot of pressure on the discs and can eventually compress nerves triggering pain. 

Prolonged sitting can also negatively affect your hip flexors making them tight and weak. Anterior pelvic tilt (APT) – an excessive tilt of the pelvis – is also believed to be caused by prolonged sitting. Anterior pelvic tilt can also affect the abs making them weak and as a result we lose stability through our core. 

There is also mounting evidence that sitting can have all sorts of negative affects on health and wellbeing in general, so make sure you put as much activity into your daily life as possible. There are many activities we do during our workday and leisure time that doesn’t required us to remain seated, so get into the habit of moving again.

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