Workplace Posture & Sitting

I sense some ears are perking up right now. This post is for all of you who spend most of your day sitting at a desk job. Following this 8-10 hour work day, you sometimes sit at a bar stool during happy hour and then mostly sit at the dining table or couch at home. Sounds about right, huh?

Did you know that you are at a higher risk of DEATH in three years if you sit for 8-11 hours a day? Let me tell you why…

Sitting for long periods of time is associated with poor: blood circulation, muscle mass, bone density, glucose metabolism (breaking down sugar), triglyceride levels (fat), cholesterol, insulin sensitivity, and much much more. It’s been shown that even if you have heart disease, diabetes, and are obese, you can still protect yourself from some scary statistics if you sit for less periods of time and get enough physical activity on a daily basis.

To make things worse, the posture in which many people sit is not always the best. It’s just natural that after an hour or more of sitting, the muscles that hold you up in good posture slowly fatigue. So you end up slumping. For a visual, imagine the posture of a teenage boy playing 10 hours of video games. That sounds about right too, huh?

This poor posture during prolonged periods of sitting causes a lot of trouble to many people. Some come to me with neck, back, or tailbone pain. Still others come to me with nerve pain or serious headaches. They may find that their chest is feeling tight, they have trouble with bowel movements, and they feel bloated and stiff.

If you work at a desk job and sit for long periods, this is what I want you to do.

Choose 1 or 2 suggestions to begin with and gradually build this into your daily routine at work. Make sticky notes on your monitor or add reminders to your phone to help you stay on track.

1. Get up every 1 hour for at least 1 minute. Get a drink of water, talk to a coworker, walk around the office, take a call standing, or simply make a few loops around your desk space. If your workplace offers it, get a standing desk that you can alternate with.
2. Use a lumbar support. These small cushions can be found in many places online and clasp around your chair. They should be thin and fit to the curve of your low back. When you push your abdomen forward with this cushion, your natural tendency is to bring your shoulders back, putting you in better alignment with less effort. Try it with a rolled up hand towel first to see how it works.  
3. Eat your lunch standing. I know sometimes this doesn’t work, but if you can, this is a great opportunity to get in 10+ minutes of standing during your work day.
4. Stretches at work (30 seconds 3 times a day):

• Doorway pec stretch - Position yourself in a doorway with your hands on the door frame above your head. Lean slightly forward, without arching your back, until you feel a gentle stretch at your pec muscles around your chest. Breath normally.
• Seated hamstring stretch - Sit upright and lift your feet up onto a stool or ledge under your desk. Flex your foot and toes so they point towards you and not away from you. Gently hinge forward at your hips until you feel a stretch at the back of your thighs.
• Seated bending - Sit upright and reach for the ground with your finger tip. Go as far as you feel comfortable. Repeat on the other side.
• Seated twisting - Sit upright and rotate your body so you are trying to look behind you. Think of bringing one shoulder to the opposite side of the chair. Go as far as you feel comfortable. Repeat on the other side.

Last Thoughts.

The biggest excuse I hear for not doing the above suggestions is, “I’m too busy at work to think about this.” I get that. But even implementing 2 of these strategies will take you less than 2 minutes during your day and can still yield great health benefits. I say try it for yourself and see what it does for you.

References:

1. Kukkonen-Harjula KT, Verbeek JH, Ijaz S, Hermans V, Bhaumik S, Shrestha N. Workplace interventions for reducing sitting at work. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016; 3:CD010912.
2. van der Ploeg HP, Chey T, Korda RJ, Banks E, Bauman A. Sitting Time and All-Cause Mortality Risk in 222 497 Australian Adults. Arch Intern Med. 2012; 172(6):494–500. ​