Training · 4 min read ·
By the end of the day your back has seized up. What the chair does to it, three moves for the office and what to strengthen.
If you have 30 seconds
- 1Sitting loads your lower back more than standing does, and keeps your spine bent for hours.
- 2Holding it stiff and straight won't protect it. It needs to change position often.
- 3Three office moves get it moving again. Strong glutes and abdominals support it.
Back pain from sitting shows up when you stand. It's half past six, you close the laptop, and you're stuck half bent, one hand on your lower back, before you can straighten up.
I see it often in the business owners and managers I work with. Most try to fix it by sitting up straighter. Often the problem lies elsewhere. Their back has spent too many hours still, and bent forward.
What it looks like
Back pain from sitting at a desk keeps a timetable you soon recognise.
- It builds through the day. Fine in the morning, and by mid-afternoon you can't get comfortable.
- It locks when you get up. After a long meeting, it takes a few steps to loosen.
- It eases when you move. A walk helps, the sofa brings it back.
- It flares up in tense weeks. Neck and lower back tighten together.
Does sitting cause back pain?
It can, yes. Sometimes a slumped position held for hours is enough, with no strain or injury.
The load goes up. Sitting, even sitting well, loads your lower back more than standing. Slumped, it can more than double.
Your back only moves one way. You bend forward all day and hardly ever back. The discs between your vertebrae are mostly water. They lose some by day and take it back at night, which is why you're slightly taller in the morning. Movement feeds them, and when you stay bent for hours the load always falls on the same side.
Stiff and straight is another mistake. Your spine has three natural curves, and it should keep them when you sit. Pull it ruler-straight and you flatten them, and a flat back copes less well. Changing position matters more, and people who work on their feet do it far more often.
Tension plays its part. There's also a physical side to back pain from stress. Under pressure you hunch and your breathing gets shallow. The diaphragm, your breathing muscle, attaches to the vertebrae of your lower back. If it stays tight, it can stiffen that area too.
A back needs to move in every direction.
Three office moves, and what to strengthen
They fit into the two minutes you spend out of your chair every hour. They take your back where the chair never does: backwards, round and sideways. Go slowly and pain-free. If it hurts, stop. With any of the signs in the box above, your GP comes first.
Slump to tall. On the edge of your chair, let your back round and sink. Then rise slowly until you feel tall, chin tucked, and hold a few seconds. Repeat a few times.
Upper-body twist. Standing, knees soft, arms bent at chest height, head still. Turn only your upper body left and right, ten times, no swing.
Side bend. Standing, slide one hand down your thigh towards the knee and let the opposite side lengthen. Come back up and swap sides.
At home, strengthen what holds it up. Your glutes and deep abdominals keep the pelvis steady, and the spine with it. For the glutes, the bridge. Lie on your back, knees bent, feet on the floor, lift your hips and hold a few seconds. For the abdominals, stay on your back and reach out one arm and the opposite leg, lower back on the floor. Both fit into your two strength sessions a week.
Try this
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Test yourself
Friday evening and your back has seized up. What do you do?
Pick the easiest move and do it at your next break. I cover breaks and strength work in the articles on sitting all day and on training with no time.
