Sitting in the right way at your office desk is a priority. Many office workers spend as much as 8 hours per day during the working week sitting down. When we sit, we place excessive strain on our shoulders, neck and back without giving it a second thought.
How you sit influences your spinal health. Your Back Pain Relief recommends the moment you notice minor health niggles including dizziness, headaches, and shoulder pain, the first thing you should do is to examine your seating position. All three are an indication that your back is affected by your seating position.
How Do I Correct My Seating Position?
First of all, it is important to acknowledge that movement is the key. An increasing number of companies are encouraging their employees to move during the workout. Your employer may have introduced yoga or tai-chi classes. If they have, you should take advantage of them. But, there are also solutions that can help you to improve your back health.
What Are Ergonomics?
Ergonomics is a science in itself. A quick Google search will tell you the science of interaction between people and objects. When you work in an office, ergonomics influence the way you interact with your office desk, computer screen and other tools you need to do your job. It is often something so simple as having your screen in the right position when working at your desk.
Your chair is an important part of “desk ergonomics.” If you experience back pain when sitting at your desk, the company’s health and safety may recommend that you use a back support or lumbar support.
What Is A Back Support?
When it comes to back supports, there is not such a thing as one size fits all.
A back support may be something so simple as a rolled out towel at the back of your chair.
In reality, a back support from Your Back Pain Relief is something more specialised. You can buy dedicated lumbar supports that fit your personal needs when you experience back or neck pain from sitting too much.
Most of the time, it is your neck and lower back that suffers. If you can improve your seating position that improves the position of your lower back, it will help to boost your entire spinal alignment.
How does It work?
A support works together with the natural curvature of your spine. Placed in the right position, it will support your back and encourage you to sit in a much better position.
However, just like with everything else, it is important that you help yourself to sit better. One mistake many office workers make is sitting cross-legged at their desks. To make sure that your support helps you to sit better, it is important to sit with both feet on the floor.
If you are not comfortable with sitting with both feet on the floor, you should try an elevated footrest.
What Back Support Is Right For Me?
Before you go ahead and buy a support, you should check out the available options online. Many physiotherapists recommend not using the same type of support all of the time.
Of course, all of this depends on your particular condition. Perhaps one type of support will help you, but switching in between different supports is the latest trend. When you switch between different types of supports, you don’t “lock” your spine in one position.
When sitting using your back support, make sure your hips and knees are in a right-angle position. In general, the right support for you is the one that encourages you to sit correctly the moment you sit down in your chair.
Placing Your Support
Where should you place your lumbar support?
To maximise your seating position, your lumbar support should be placed that it aligns the area of your lower back with the rest of your spinal column. Place it in the bottom of your office chair’s backrest. Ideally, it should come up towards the lower part of the middle of your back.
When you sit, your support should not push you backwards or forwards. Instead, it should gently re-align your entire spinal column including your neck.
If you have sat on a yoga block or on what is known as your sitting bones in yoga, you will have experienced perfect spinal alignment. That is the sensation that you are looking for.
Take your time and examine your seating position. Is your neck aligned with the rest of your spine? When it is, you have found the right place for your support. In other words, your support will “prompt” you to sit upright.
Who Needs A Back Support?
It is not only office workers that need a support. If you work from home and sit in a chair that may not have been ergonomically designed, you will need a back support as well.
Also, when you drive long distances or spend a long time sitting in a car or on a plane, it is a good idea to have a support at hand.
When you stop and think about it, you will realise that you probably sit down much more than you think. Try to work out how many hours per day you sit down. You may surprise yourself.
What happens when you come home from work? Are you active or do you spend time sitting in front of a computer screen or watching TV sitting on the sofa?
Final Thoughts
The conclusion is simple – we sit down much more than we think that we do. These days, sitting has is more or less a cultural phenomenon. It contributes not only to weight gain, but poor posture is also part of the problem.
Correcting your posture is not always easy. However, buying a back support is one of the best things you can do. You should also consider working on your core strength. Standing up and moving around at least once an hour will help to correct poor posture. However, ultimately, it is about how you sit in your chair. This is where a support can help you to sit better for longer.