Sitting All Day + Back Pain

I know there are a lot of us here who sit all day, and if you don’t have back pain/annoyance without this, sitting all the time will annoy your back.

So I wanted to start this thread for people to post ideas about WHAT THEY DO TO ALLEVIATE this issue.

Here is what I do:

1.) Sit with hips above knees
2.) Keep feet out in front of me; not underneath
3.) Shift around a bunch
4.) Get up at least 1-2x per hour
5.) I have 2 lumbar supports; but neither keep their shape for long…thinking of buying a 1-2" dia PVC tube to insert inside one of these “support” devices
6.) Go for walks at lunch (when weather allows it)

I’m sure there are other things, but I wanna hear what the rest of you desk jockies do…

Hi There

I have to say that these work well. Something else to try is one of those yoga balls. Lie on it with your hips on the ball and relax your core. This stretches the lower back. Keeps me going for a day or two.

I usually go lift during lunch, so I always try to stretch my hips out in between sets. That usually makes my back feel better in the afternoon.

Being a full time student i know this problem all too well. Driving to and from school, sitting in class, and sitting to study. I’ve been using some methods that i read in an article by Mike Robertson (forgot the name)

  1. Get up and walk around every 20 minutes or so to loosen up your hips, takes like 30 seconds-2 minutes to do.
  2. Spinal deloading, where you use your arms to lift yourself up from youre seat letting your hips hang freely putting some relief on your lumbar spine.
  3. Kicking the chair out of the way to do some static long period lunges to loosen up yout hip flexorswhile still allowing you to access your table/desk. (Gets some funny looks in school but who cares?)

Also including plenty of mobility and flexibility work into your daily life to counter the long hours spent in potatoe mode.

Another thing is not have anything in your back pockets, no wallets, etc.

Get a front pocket wallet if you need to. Best thing I did for my back.

oh yeah, spinal deloading and no wallet in back pocket…i picked those gems up about 3mo ago.

does anyone have a GOOD lumbar support? i got one from work that sort sucks major ass.

Like you said, I try to get up and walk around as much as I can. Drinking a shit load of water helps since I’m up to go to the bathroom every hour at least.

i find my hip flexors get really tight. i do a stretch at least twice a day and it helps alot. taking off the shoes help to get some circulation going and use a tennis ball.

and the usual get up and stretch . adjusting your computer and chair is vital too

I like to roll my feet on a tennis ball while I’m sitting. It’s good to do standing up with a lot more pressure but doing it while sitting seems to relieve some tension, maybe it promotes blood flow, I don’t know. Feels good though.

Be sure to stretch your hammies and hip flexors often.
Foam rolling would be a good idea in those spots too.

Tennis ball on the feet is awesome, having flat feet sucks

Helps with seated posture for me and couple other classmates.

Why not go out and buy a foam pool floaty things. I cant think of the name off the top of my head, but those foam tube things you use to whip your fat friend with.

Shit, you could even cut it up and jerry rig a foam lumbar support.

Drink a lot of water, this will help hydrate your spine, and give you incentive to stand up a lot (to pee).

Front squats may help as well, my posture has improved a great deal after starting them.

[quote]grrrsauce wrote:

Helps with seated posture for me and couple other classmates.[/quote]

looking @ the site i can’t find a fucking thing about WHAT IT IS. no other pics, or anything. it looks like a big black sack. wtf?

Great ideas, thanks gentlemen!

[quote]B rocK wrote:
oh yeah, spinal deloading and no wallet in back pocket…i picked those gems up about 3mo ago.

does anyone have a GOOD lumbar support? i got one from work that sort sucks major ass.[/quote]

I can’t think of anyone who I’d trust more with a product recommendation for back pain than Dr. McGill.

[quote]B rocK wrote:
grrrsauce wrote:

Helps with seated posture for me and couple other classmates.

looking @ the site i can’t find a fucking thing about WHAT IT IS. no other pics, or anything. it looks like a big black sack. wtf?[/quote]

Guess they don’t want any business, clicking order now goes to a dead link.

Our office wont let us change our horrible chairs because they want them to look uniform (yes, ex-military management). A few of us have complained, but they say they have lumbar support. It’s made my lower back injury take forever to heal, my lower back hurts almost all the time.

I’m a software developer by profession, which pretty much sucks ass when it comes to posture.

So, I try to get up every once in a while and move my hips a little. Samson stretches in the mornings more than anything else (even glute stretches) do a lot for my back.

When I’m at home, I try to sit on a stability ball, be it for watching TV, work on my computer or eating. This does a great difference in preventing stiffness of the illiopsas as well as keeping your glutes properly activated.