→ Neutral spine: the natural, S-shaped alignment of your spine. It’s the foundation of healthy sitting and standing posture.
“Sit up straight” is not great advice. It’s not specific enough. It can lead to sitting up “too straight,” which flattens out the natural curves in the spine. This can cause similar damage as slouching forward.
When sitting (or standing) with good posture, a neutral spine maintains the natural curves.
→ Natural curves: The 3 major curves of the spine are found in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar regions.
Understanding what these curves look like is the first step. The second step is to have the body awareness to know when we’re holding these curves out of alignment.
→ Lumbar support: a support tool (usually a firm cushion) that helps keep my lower back’s natural curve intact. It can help avoid slouching forward and disc degeneration.
Not using a lumbar support used to cause my lumbar curve to flatten out. This would create alignment issues throughout my entire spine. Holding this misalignment for long periods of time caused chronic pain and excessive muscle tension throughout my back.
I didn’t think I needed a lumbar support for the longest time. Then I recently found one when I was cleaning out a storage unit. I almost threw it out (because I don’t currently have any lower back pain or tension).
But then I thought, let me try it just to see what happens. It has helped everything in my torso work better. My muscles are more mobile. And my joints are working better.
I’m not saying everybody needs a lumbar support. But I am saying that it helped me out in a big way, even when I didn’t think I needed it.
If you like this article, my Computer Posture Newsletter should be very helpful for you.
Especially if you’re an athletic office worker, who wants to improve computer posture and increase work productivity.
I write about easy, actionable ways to:
→ Decrease computer-related pain
→ Increase energy
→ Improve mental clarity
→ Decrease muscle tension
→ Improve joint function
Click here to get started.
P.S. It’s always free. And you can unsubscribe anytime. Click here to learn more.
Thanks for your interest in computer posture.
Todd Bowen — Computer Posture Correction and Pain-Free Ergonomics: For Office Workers Who Want to Increase Work Productivity