April 13th, 2020 by Kailo Labs.
April 13th, 2020 by Kailo Labs.
More and more people are moving from the office and opting to (or are required to) work from home. This growing shift is resulting in an increased phenomena of back pain when sitting.
The most likely culprit is an ill-designed office chair that forces your body to sit in an unnatural posture, leading to back pain. However, good posture techniques are equally crucial.
Below are three posture tips to relieve back pain when sitting.
1. Unlearn Bad Posture Habits that Cause Back Pain when Sitting
Good posture is not learned. Rather it is forgotten. When we were young children, our bodies had straight backs naturally. But years of sitting in the wrong shaped chairs forced us to hunch over our desks to do our school work.
As a result, our bodies learned to align themselves improperly. Then, as we got older, we continued the same poor sitting habits. Our bodies knew some-thing was wrong — so they started screaming at us with back pain from sitting.
Good news! We can fight the curve — straighten up our backs once again — and get relief from back pain. Although Kailo can definitely help with easing back pain, below are three posture tips.
The first thing we must do is unlearn the bad posture habits we learned as a child. And this actually begins in the hips.
Our backs are designed to be straight. Yet, now we bend them to get comfort-able. Rather, we should focus on bending our hips and keeping our backs straight — especially when sitting.
When asked, many people cannot even identify their hip joints. If you are un-sure where your hip joint is — stand on one leg and lift the other knee toward your chest. Your hip joint is what bends your leg in the air. This is where the majority of your bending should happen (along with your knees).
If you want to learn more about how the hips relate to posture, watch this instructive video: https://youtu.be/d4fInNeCdlE
Which brings us to the next tip.
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2. Practice Posture Mindfulness when Sitting
As mentioned, back pain when sitting often stems from an improper sitting posture.
When you are sitting, you need to be mindful of what your body is doing. Are you tense? Hunched? Is your back bent?
All these positions can exacerbate and cause your back pain.
Remember to keep your back straight. And relaxed. A straight spine does more than improve your appearance, it also causes the blood to flow better to your brain and other parts of your body. It also eases pain.
Children don't force good posture. It happens naturally. Allow your body to remember its childhood — before it learned bad posture habits.
When you are sitting at your desk, don't hunch over to get comfortable. You'll only make matters worse. Make sure your hips are bent in a manner to maintain a straight back. If you can't sit straight in your current chair, you may need to change more than your habits.