Sitting for prolonged hours used to put a lot of pressure on my back muscles and spinal discs. This pressure resulted in stubborn lower back pain. This pain was often debilitating. It was painful both when I was in a sitting position and when I was away from my desk. My improper sitting posture was the main variable worsening the pain.
When in a sitting position for prolonged periods, the first instinct people tend to have is slouching forward. We reach for that keyboard and mouse. Everything goes downhill from there. Slouching can strain the spinal discs and overstretch the ligaments.
Years ago, my physical therapist was hitting me in the head for a $50 copay thrice a week. It wasn’t helping. I had to figure out ways to improve my sitting position during the time I was outside of the physical therapist’s office.
Simply “sitting up straight” wasn’t enough to relieve this pain. I had to take an intentional, yet simplified approach. There are many ways to avoid lower back pain and other back related injuries. This article talks about the 4 most helpful habits I implemented on how to sit properly to avoid lower back pain.
Nothing on my website is medical advice. It’s for informational purposes only. I share my experience, what has worked for me, and what hasn’t. I talk about the poor posture mistakes I’ve fixed and the good posture habits I’ve learned.
You are your primary caretaker. Not your doctor, therapist, surgeon, coach, or physical therapist. They all play a role. But, they also have their own agenda and their own motivation that’s not always in our best interest, regardless if it’s intentional or not. Do your research and make your own good decisions. Be the best advocate possible for your own healthcare.
How to Sit Properly to Avoid Lower Back Pain
Habit 1: Learn About the Natural S Curve of the Spine
Photo by Sgame via Megapixl
“Sitting up straight” isn’t good enough. Any sitting position can fall under one of 3 categories. These categories are compressed, overextended, and neutral (I also sometimes refer to neutral as balanced). Compressed and overextended are very poor sitting positions. The spine compresses when slouching forward takes place. Conversely, the spine overextends when we sit up “too straight”. A compressed or overextended sitting position will lead to spinal disc degeneration more quickly than a neutral sitting posture. This is why I make sure to keep a neutral, balanced sitting posture as much as possible.
A neutral, balanced spine is the optimal sitting position. I also make sure I stand up every 15 minutes or so, even if I am sitting with good posture. Sitting at a computer desk isn’t the enemy. Repetitive strain is the enemy. Even if we are in a healthy sitting position, repetitive strain and gravity will still take a large toll on our bodies. Sitting with poor posture will exponentially increase that toll.
Habit 2: Use a Lumbar Support
When we are in sitting posture, our glutes are the main base support of our upper body. We’ll cover glutes in a future article. Our lower back is one of the next most important body parts that supports our upper body.
I’ve tried different ways of lumbar support. These ways range from using an ergonomic chair, to lumbar pillows, to a rolled up towel placed between my lower back and chair. All of our bodies are unique. We all have different daily habits and physical variables to consider. That said, I don’t want to recommend a specific lumbar support. There’s no way of knowing that a certain lumbar support will work well for everyone. Find something that is comfortable and works for you. Also, I stand up every 15 minutes, regardless if I have poor posture or good sitting posture. Repetitive strain is the enemy, not being in a sitting posture.
Photo on the right: The user is slouching forward, which could be contributed to by her compressed, internal shoulder rotation. Her ankles are also overextended in a poor posture. I used to keep my feet like this. It led to dysfunction in both my ankles and knees.
Photo by Reneshia via Megapixl
Habit 3: Learn About Internal Shoulder Rotation and How to Avoid it
There’s a good reason we’re talking about shoulders during an article about lower back pain. Everything in our bodies is connected to each other. This includes muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, fascia, and soft tissue. There was a major cause/effect relationship between my internal shoulder rotation and my lower back pain.
Typing on a keyboard and using a mouse typically causes us to rotate our shoulders internally. This causes us to slouch forward in a compressed spinal position. The effect of being in this poor posture for long periods of time was the main catalyst for my lower back pain. As I learned more about internal shoulder rotation, I learned how to avoid it while in a computer sitting position. I spent more time with my shoulders in a balanced, neutral position. I began to slouch forward less. My lower back pain decreased.
Habit 4: Keep Your Feet Flat on the Floor When in Sitting Posture
Just as my shoulders’ poor posture contributed to my back pain from the top down, keeping my feet in a bad position contributed to my back pain from the bottom up. It caused the arches in my feet to collapse and the tendons in my ankles to weaken. This dysfunction in my feet put more stress and tension on my legs as a whole, which increased my lower back pain. Sitting without my feet flat on the floor not only caused this pain when I was in a sitting position, but in all aspects of my physical life.
How to Properly Sit in an Office Chair
My feet are always flat on the floor (or a footrest, if necessary)
I used to sit with my feet pulled under my chair (toes on the floor only). This caused chronic overuse of my hamstrings, which led to joint dysfunction throughout my entire legs (even into my lower back).
Keeping my feet flat on the floor relaxes my hamstrings, allowing me to have a neutral position in my ankles and knees.
If I have to raise my chair to get correct elbow level, sometimes it will lift my feet off the floor. In this case, I keep my feet flat on a footrest.
Elbows are slightly above my desk level
I never want my elbows to drop below desk level. I used to make this computer posture mistake. It caused repetitive strain and overuse of my biceps, which led to painful tendonitis in my elbows and shoulders.
Keeping my elbows above desk level relaxed my bicep muscles, which put less strain on my elbow and shoulder tendons.
Top of my monitor screen is even with eye level
I never want to look down at a laptop monitor. They are too low. It caused chronic overuse of my neck muscles. My anterior neck muscles go shorter, while my posterior neck muscles got longer. This dysfunction was some of the most stubborn computer posture mistakes I fixed.
Proper Sitting Position at Desk
Neutral spine
When I sit with good computer posture, my spine isn’t straight. It has natural curves in it (lumbar, thoracic, and cervical). When these curves are intact, that’s when I’m sitting with a healthy, neutral spine. Our spine was made to deviate from this position. But it wasn’t made to be held outside of neutral for long periods of time (8 hours a day).
Lumbar curve
When I had poor computer posture, my lumbar curve was the first one to flatten out. And once that happened, it caused a chain reaction to lose my thoracic and cervical curve.
Different Postures of Sitting at a Desk
Upright torso, with a neutral spine, with its natural curves intact
When I’m sitting at a computer for long periods of time, I want my torso to be upright, but not too straight. I don’t want to flatten out the natural curves of my spine.
Slouching Forward
Slouching forward is arguably the best known computer posture mistake. Any time I place my hands on a keyboard and mouse for long periods of time, my body will naturally tend to slouch forward. It’s up to me to have the body awareness for keeping my torso in a more upright position.
Sitting up “too straight”
Too much of a good thing can be a very bad thing. That’s what happened to me when I corrected my slouching forward. I overcorrected and sat up “too straight.” The natural curves in my spine flattened out. Believe it or not, the muscle tension caused by sitting up too straight was even harder to fix than the computer-related injuries from slouching forward for 9 years.
Thanks for your interest in sitting posture. If you’ve read this far, congratulations! You’re taking very valuable steps forward to improve your quality of life. Feel free to forward this article to a friend or family member who sits at a computer for a living.
If this article was helpful, check out my book titled “45 Ways to Improve Computer Posture.” It’s available in both digital and paperback versions.
>>> Click here to pick up your copy
This book explains how to improve your posture through different variables of health and wellness. These include sitting posture, standing posture, sleep, hydration, and breathing. Poor posture is not just how we sit at a computer. The health habits we practice, 24 hours a day, are directly related to how good (or bad) our computer posture is.
Go to SittingPosture.com/book to learn more.
Take care,
Todd Bowen
P.S. You can sign up for my free computer posture newsletter here.