Low back pain is an extremely common problem among office workers.
Prolonged sitting is thought to be associated with low back and buttock pain, and discomfort associated with sitting may even predict future low back pain.
Research has found that slouched sitting is correlated with low back pain. (If you love the technical deep dive, here is the biomechanics of things: slouched sitting may induce viscoelastic creep of spinal tissues, which may desensitize mechanoreceptors in spinal tissues, alter the joint sense, overload passive spinal structures and result in low back pain… -Phew!). Importantly, different sitting postures may affect this mechanism differently.
However, there are controversial findings regarding whether sitting duration or sitting postures are related to the initial development of low back pain.
A new study found that sitting for a short while (20 minutes) did not affect a person’s low back mechanics and did not initiate symptoms.
Now, in the work-from-home era, who sits for only 20 minutes at a time. I mean c’mon..! So does that mean you’re home free? Not quite.
Maybe more to the point, if you take ‘microbreaks’ by repositioning (standing) frequently, you can stay ahead of the biomechanical changes associated with low back pain.
Wouldn’t it be better to manage you low back pain instead of having to recover from it?
If you’re suffering with back pain, or want to know what else you can do, simply book an appointment. We’re here to help!
