Back pain at work, or other similar problems are unfortunately more common than they should be. Or, there are those who have posture issues without realising it; which will only become apparent later when it becomes painful.
Other health issues aside, a frequent source of problems arise from work conditions. These come in two main forms:
- Remaining static for extended periods of time
- Extended repetition of the same movements
The effect of remaining static include:
- Muscles, tendons and ligaments aligning to the fixed position
- Loss of flexibility as the body adapts to periods of inactivity
- Muscle memory adapting to the potentially dysfunctional position
- Stagnation of blood flow effecting heart, and blood vessels
- Muscle and other soft tissue atrophy
Solution
By definition then, to avoid issues, the solution would involve doing the opposite!!
For example…
Office chairs are in theory ergonomically designed to prevent issues.
Yet how is it, even with having them correctly set up, do people still have issues? Could it be that sitting for extended periods is the root of the problem?
But, people who stand for extended periods also frequently experience aches and pains e.g. working at a shop checkout.
The conclusion then is that it is not the sitting or standing per se; but the act of remaining static for long periods in those positions.
A well known alternative to the office chair is the use of a gym ball.
Posture sitting on a gym ball
Gym balls help relieve issues by:
- Inherent instability ensures dynamic posture
- Surface area and spread of pressure prevents the blockage of blood flow through the legs (varicose veins anyone?!)
- Surprisingly difficult to slouch!
- Dynamic sitting requires light level of muscle activity:
- May help keep blood pumping through the blood vessels and heart
- Might help burn excess blood sugar, keeps the metabolic system at a higher level
- The muscle activity may also help lower the bad type of cholesterol
Further reading can be seen on these two articles:
- https://www.bbc.com/news/health-19910888 “Sitting for long periods ‘is bad for your health'”
- https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=228749 “Squat, Don’t Sit: Study of African Tribe Shows Why One Position Is Healthier” proves how dynamic sitting prevents problems
Final thoughts
This blog post has in it’s title back pain. Hopefully, you can now see the root cause. Also, hopefully you can now see the effects go far beyond simple posture corrections. This is a far deeper topic, with potentially long-term effects.
