Sitting Do's and Don'ts: What To Do To Prevent Back Pain

What to do to prevent back pain, by Dr. Chris Chase

Sitting for most folks in West Hartford and Hartford is unavoidable for their jobs.  How to prevent  back pain while sitting is no easy task and should not be taken lightly. Stuck to a desk for  seven plus hours a day will do damage to the discs in your neck and low back. Mainly because of the hunched over posture when working at the computer, which shortens your hip flexors, stretches the ligaments in the back part of your vertebrae (spinal bones) and creates harsh forces on your spinal discs. This harsh pressure on the disc forces the disc material to shift posterior or backwards and bulge out of place, in the worst case it causes a herniation or break in the disc and the disc material seeps out further irritating the nerves and spinal cord causing back pain.  Not to mention the eye strain and headaches this abnormal position can cause.

What you can do to avoid this situation and prevent back pain?

1. Get up and move around every half hour.... Can't do that you say!
   Then do the following:
   Straighten your back, make sure you have the arch in your low back and shift your chest forward.
   Keep your shoulders back and ears over shoulders.
   place a Lacrosse ball under your glutes or in the base of your back to put the pressure on those tight spots, this will help ease the muscles.
   
   
2. Do the wiggle when sitting - this is a SLR exercise that is specific for discs and ligaments in your low back that I teach to our patients, which helps to prevent back pain. We have video's in our Patient Support Group on Facebook that details how to perform these wiggles.
   
   
3. Have a great Structural Chiropractor (shameless plug) as part of your good health routine to help prevent back pain.
   
   Why?
   
   Because, no matter what you do if you sit in your career you will wear and tear at your spine. Like any tool, it needs to be properly maintained. Your spine is a wonderful tool, the inner frame work of your body and must be cared for, it just makes good sense.
   
   
4. SLR exercises for the beginning or end of the day. SLR (Structural Ligament Restoration) exercises are vital to help prevent back pain, think of them as "dental floss" for your spine. Vital spinal care goes along way to protecting your spine.

Have a GREAT day

Dr. Chris

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