How to take care of your back if you spend many hours sitting

The back is one of the parts of ours that most resents those of us who work in an office or spend many hours sitting. We’ve seen it during the pandemic. Our back was a silent victim of confinement and teleworking, in which time was reduced to going for a walk or playing sports.

Many people also had to adapt to teleworking without adequate tables or chairs, so bad positions were added to sedentaryism and caused more pain and injuries.

However, spending many sitting hours is inevitable if we perform office tasks or the like. Actually, sitting is one of the most frequent positions in everyday life: when we watch TV, go to the movies, or stay with friends in a bar, we are also sitting. Therefore, it is important to be aware of the importance of good postural health.

Adopting the right positions in each case will avoid greater problems. Especially when we work sitting, as this is the activity in which we probably spend more hours in the same position. In this case, we must take into account aspects such as the height of the chair, the backrest, the placement of the computer, and the movements we make while we are sitting.

Control the position

To get to the right height, we must fully support the feet on the ground and keep the knees at the same level or above the hips. If we use a footrest, this one should have an adjustable tilt between 0 ° and 15 degrees over the horizontal plane.

The chair’s backrest should support our back in the same position our spine adopts when we stand. That means the backrest would have to respect the curves of our back and, especially, hold the lumbar curve. That is why the chairs with an adjustable backrest, adjustable height, and inclination are very suitable. A variable height backup makes it easier for the same chair to fit different backs.

Scientific studies show that pressure on the spine and back muscles decreases if the back is slightly tilted backward, forming an angle of 135 degrees from the surface on which it is sitting. However, there is no high-quality clinical trial that confirms that this posture is actually better for the back.

When we are sitting, we also have to avoid partial twists. The most appropriate movement is to turn the whole body at once. We also don’t have to forget to get up and walk every 45 minutes.

If we’re working in front of a computer, we need to make sure the screen can be angled and tilted. Ideally, it should be about 45 centimeters away, in front of our eyes and at eye level, or slightly below. The keyboard should be low so it doesn’t force us to raise our shoulders and allows us to rest our forearms on the table.

A detail that may seem minor but that has its importance is to have natural light or avoid reflections of light on the screen, to avoid forced gestures and bad positions.

The position in the car

When we’re driving, we also need to be careful about our posture. The seat should be moved forward so we can reach the pedals without having to stretch our legs, and we should rest our backs against the backrest. The knees should be at or above the level of the hips.

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