7 Ways You're Destroying Your Back While Sitting

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In the first part of my series on low back pain, I went through the anatomy in a short and accessible format. If you need a refresher on your lumbar spine anatomy take a look here.

It’s a quick post with lots of pictures, and as we know, everyone loves pictures. One of the premier experts on low back mechanics is Dr. Craig Liebenson and his textbook has been a fantastic resource for me to learn continuously throughout my career.

In his book, he states, “After only three minutes of sitting we can start to see the effects.” 3 MINUTES!! Prolonged sitting causes a phenomenon called “CREEP” and can increase your susceptibility to injury when a sudden demand for movement is needed. One easy way to interrupt this problem is to get out of your desk and walk around. Standing up to take a break is so simple and yet so many people forget that they have the power to do so. Some of the causes can be pretty blatant, but some not so much.


Causes of Seated Low Back Pain

Not Locking your backrest

When you unlock the backrest of your chair, you allow the chair to recline past the beneficial point of approximately 110 degrees. The muscles of the back must then support the entire back, more so than if the chair was locked. This causes the muscles to fatigue quickly and you start to have that uncomfortable ache feeling in your low/mid back.

Increased workload on the musculature →  increases strain→ increases fatigue→ increases tightness and pain→ increases your annoyance.


Sitting with your wallet in your back pocket

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This seems like a no-brainer yet, a lot of people keep their wallet in their back pocket all day (my dad does this). Think of your wallet like a wedge that has now made your hips uneven. As time goes by, this causes the musculature on one side to become shortened/overactive and the other to be stretched/strained.  So, put that wallet in your desk, in your bag, or get an awesome fanny pack.


Scooting around in your chair

I’m guilty of doing this too because it’s fun to wheel around on a chair every once in a while. However, if you are scooting around numerous times throughout the day, you may be doing harm to your low back. The movements made while moving around in a chair can strain the muscles of the back with the sudden jerking motions commonly associated with those movements.


Hip height

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Your hips should be level with your knees while you are sitting. Your hips should NEVER be below your knees. This angle will flatten the low back and cause an increase in pressure on the discs of the spine. At the same time make sure your feet on flat on the floor and not dangling off of the chair.

Your chair is lacking quality lumbar support

Some chairs have lumbar support built in the to the actual back of the chair. Lumbar supports are excellent as long as the curve of the chair is at the height of your lumbar spine. If you are shorter than average or taller than average, the generic curve placement might not work for you. Check to make sure the curve works for you otherwise it may be doing more harm than good.

The backrest should be putting the lordosis into your back. If your chair is lacking the curve than you can resort to a pillow although I’m not a big fan. This pillow has excellent reviews, breathable material, memory foam, and is highly adjustable.

Low backrest

Some “office” chairs I’ve seen on the market have backrests that reach the mid-thoracic spine. This attempt on a backrest can put your back at a severe disadvantage from lack of upper back support.    

Lack of upper back support→ ES (Erector spinae muscles) of the thoracic and lumbar spine fatigue overtime → you start to hunch forward→ ES start to become strained and send signals back to your brain→ you complain of a sore back even though you have a brand new chair.

Twisting of your torso with a multiple monitor setup

Constant twisting from using two screens while streaming causes you to continually turn back and forth, causing repeated micro-traumas that add up over time.  If you must use a dual monitor setup, make sure the screens are next to one another. I also recommend setting up one vertical monitor to read Twitch Chat or to read electronic documents throughout the day.

Wrapping Up

As you can see, many of the causes are merely common sense, but usually missed by desk workers. After reading this article, take some action to checklist your current setup.

There's no point in reading these articles if you don't take action yourself. In our third part of the low back series, we will be going through some treatments and prevention that you can implement yourself.

If you have any questions or comments, leave them below. It’s always great connecting with you all.

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Drew FTW!

Constant twisting from using two screens while streaming causes you to continually turn back and forth, causing repeated micro-traumas that add up over time.  If you must use a dual monitor setup, make sure the screens are next to one another. I also recommend setting up one vertical monitor to read Twitch Chat or to read electronic documents throughout the day.As you can see, many of the causes are merely common sense, but usually missed by desk workers. After reading this article, take some action to checklist your current setup. There's no point in reading these articles if you don't take action yourself. In our third part of the low back series, we will be going through some treatments and prevention that you can implement yourself. If you have any questions or comments, leave them below. It’s always great connecting with you all. Thanks for reading,Dr. Drew FTW!

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