Surely you’ve already been asked to sit upright, not to stoop or maybe to imagine balancing a book on top of your head to care for an upright body- or seating posture. To prevent from getting a lopsided back, as motherly advices quote. But, your colleague sits deeply sunken into his chair. In your mind, your mother’s words appear. But, does a sloppy seating posture really harm your back?
Most likely, every one of us knows back pain, most of the time they are unspecific and disappear again. About 80 % of all people concerned have no damages at the spine itself but suffer under non-specific back pain. Often, this kind of back problems are due to factors like stress, sitting too long, tensions or overload due to wrong lifting or too much sports.
Especially sitting too long is harmful for the back. Because it is a fact that our body needs sufficient exercise and that our back musculature needs to be strengthened. Our spine is not only stabilizing our body but it also is supporting the head and our backbone at the same time. A balanced sense of balance as well as good coordination skills supports a healthy back and proper body posture. But, our everyday office activities make this nearly impossible – most of us sit too long without any sufficient movement.
When sitting too long, especially the motionless posture is the real problem. The strain and the pressure on the joints increase, the fasciae stick together – pain arises. The pain signalizes that there is a problem. Normally, we automatically change the seating position. In case we ignore these signals it may lead to tensions in the muscles and painfully irritated nerve fibers. Furthermore, blood circulation is inhibited. Now it would be the perfect time for a short break and to move. Changes in the body posture or a short walk in the office (print at a more distant printer, for example) are a remedy and activate muscles, tendons and ligaments as well as joints. A further positive side effect of physical movement is the gained mental distance to the office desk. Currently, a seat backrest leaning backwards are said to be especially favorable for the back. When sitting in front of the computer you automatically bend forwards. Consciously leaning back is compensation and the pressure on the intervertebral discs decreases.
Back pain may seriously affect our health, often the performance is decreased. To conclude, not only the seating posture is important but a combination of varying seating posture and sufficient movement. No matter, whether you are leaning forward or back into your chair – alternation is important.
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Imagesource: @SAMINA