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Protecting Your Back

Chronic Back Pain and Sitting Upright

According to a research study presented to the Radiological Society of North America, if you spend long hours sitting, being seated in an upright position places a muscle strain on your back, leading to potentially chronic back pain problems.

Since the National Institute of Neurological Disorders cites back pain as the most common cause of workplace disability and job-related absenteeism in the U.S., proper ergonomics is a must to prevent lower back problems.

Finding the Best Position

To find the optimal sitting position, medical researchers recruited 22 healthy volunteers and used a positional MRI imaging machine (which allows the subjects the freedom to sit or stand during scanning). They had their subjects sit in three positions: slouching (hunching forward), a 90-degree sitting position (straight-up angle) and a slightly reclining 135-degree position (with the feet remaining on the floor). A variety of measurements were taken of the spine and its disks from the different positions.

The worst position was a 90-degree body-thigh angle, since this resulted in a weight-bearing strain that caused the spine’s internal disks to misalign. Whereas the 135-degree body-thigh angle was determined to be the best ergonomic position, as it did not to put a significant strain on the spinal disks and spinal ligaments. (One Swedish study found sitting upright intensifies the pressure on the spine by 140 percent!)

So utilizing a chair that can rock back to the 135-degree angle is something quite important to your health, wellbeing and job performance. If you must use a straight up position chair: take short breaks every 45-60 minutes to prevent damaging strain. Get up and stretch with some neck rolls, chin tucks, do gentle back bends with hands on hips, then lean forward and touch either your toes or your ankles, or whatever feels comfortable. An important fact for you to remember is that a 135-degree body-thigh angle is also the beneficial angle for your back while sitting at a computer.

Preventing Stress on Your Back - Lifting Heavy Objects

Always try to avoid lifting heavy objects. Lower backache is the most common physical pain symptom in America and the consequences of incurring injuries is too great. Even if you do not feel any pain, you could be doing damage to the vertebral discs in your back that will show their ugly results later in life. Everybody gets old and discovers the damage of old injuries when it’s way to late to undo the damage. So hire someone else, protect your body. However, if a situation should arise when you cannot avoid lifting something, here is what the experts recommend:

Lifting Correctly

Flex the Knees

Bend down by flexing your knees, not by leaning over and bending your back.  Leaning over puts excess pressure on the lumbar discs in your lower back -- setting the stage for possible injury.  Flex your knees in a half-squat to pick it up.

Use Your Legs

As you lift a heavy object, use the strength of your legs to lift, not your back.

Maintain Proper Leverage

Even a medium-sized object can be dangerous in the wrong position.  Bending the wrong way and lifting a medium box out of position can strain your back as much as lifting something heavy.  You will be surprised how less strenuous things can be when you position your body more effectively.

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Sources: Low Back Pain Fact Sheet National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/backpain) The Role of Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction in the Genesis of Low Back Pain Archives of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery 2007 Dec;127(10):885-8 The Dominant Role of Psychosocial Risk Factors in the Development of Chronic Low Back Pain Disability Spine 1995 Dec 15;20(24):2702-9

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