Back Pain When Sitting Due To Incorrect Sitting Posture

When someone suffers from back pain, the pain can be felt both high, middle (between the shoulder blades) and low in the back. One of the most common causes of pain during sitting is a wrong body posture. For example, do you sit slumped, your neck bent forward, do your shoulders hang forward, etc? These are examples of postures that can give you a lot of pain in the back. In some people, back problems are caused by a wrong sitting position only after a few hours, with others after a few minutes. This depends, among other things, on the physical condition (posture and posture of the body) and the muscle strength of your back.

What does it do to you?
It is a fact that physical fitness around the 30 the year of age is declining, especially if we live inactively. Our muscle strength decreases, we become less agile, our mobility and coordination decrease, and our stamina also decreases. Less muscle strength also changes our metabolism at rest, making us heavier. And more weight often means more back complaints. Prolonged sitting can also lead to sleep problems and deterioration of the ability to concentrate.

Back pain when sitting due to less movement
In short: sitting is bad for you. More exercise and less sitting is the motto. Exercising twice a week or more often is actually a must. But in order to limit the sum and thus the duration of sitting, we will have to move more and more between each day.

It is a nice aim to move 10-20 minutes per session to reduce the 'session time'. "Simply put, my employer sees me coming," I hear you think. Yet the possibilities are often closer than you think. I would like to give you a few tips to keep your current job dynamic:

• Walk regularly to the printer;
• To the bathroom? Take a toilet on another floor;
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator;
• Walk to your colleague instead of emailing him or her;
• Go stand meetings;
• Get your own tea or coffee;
• Go around a block in the break. That is a good idea anyway because movement and fresh air ensures that you can concentrate better and are therefore more productive;
• Watch your working hours (limit overtime, then you are less);
• Ensure the right workplace; nowadays there are many tools to be in motion even at your workplace, think of desk bikes, running and knee chairs or for example the smart chair;
• Do exercises while sitting, such as tilting your pelvis.

Did you know that ... less is more effective than more sports?

Less sitting has a more positive effect on your back pain and your overall health than if you try to compensate for many sitting by exercising more. Therefore try to get as much as possible during the day with the above tips.

Self-check: am I okay?
Because sitting is not entirely preventable, assuming a good sitting posture is very important. Do you want to know if you are well? Keep in mind the following tips:

• Straight / active back (ie no convex / collapsed back)
• Buttocks well pulled against the seat back
• Knees in 90 degrees with soles of the feet right on the ground
• Shoulders relax (ie not depending on the front)
• Neck relax (so not with the head hanging forwards)
• Head upright and looking forward
• Elbows are supported and have an angle of 90 degrees, leaning on armrests of the chair
• Back supported by a handrail or possibly a cushion, so that your back muscles are not constantly tightened.

If you recognize your own sitting position in the above points, you probably have an excellent sitting posture. If you notice that your sitting posture needs a lot of improvement, you will probably have felt your back during or after a long sitting.