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Sitting can be a real pain sometimes

Sitting, in an improper posture, which most Americans are guilty of, can put a tremendous amount of pressure on the discs, ligaments, joints and muscles.

Almost 80% of all Americans experience back pain, and for many of them that pain comes from sitting long periods like at work. Described as discomfort or an ache or throbbing, the pain is usually lumped into the generic diagnosis of low back pain.

Most people are surprised when sitting down doesn't resolve their back pain, or seems to be the source of the problem in the first place. While sitting relieves some pressure on other muscles and joints in the body, it does not relieve all the pain and pressure on your back.

Sitting, in an improper posture, which most Americans are guilty of, can put a tremendous amount of pressure on the discs, ligaments, joints and muscles. Most people feel helpless because they work a job that forces them to sit for hours at a time. Using a standing desk to alleviate some of the pain has become popular with some workers, but others do not see this as a viable option and just suffer as the pain and discomfort gets worse and worse throughout the day. In reality there are other options besides a standing desk that can help take some of the pressure off of your back and allow you not to enter into a spiral of pain throughout the day.

When you sit, especially when you sit for long periods of time, you wind up more and more in a slouched posture with your shoulders slumped forward. This will cause your neck to automatically be thrust backward and your back will be slumped over towards the desk. By sitting this way, you are increasing exponentially the amount of pressure put on the discs in your lower back and in the neck, therefore causing possible disc herniations or numbness and tingling in your hands or your feet. The longer you sit in that posture, the higher the chances are that you will in fact cause the disc to bulge.

Your muscles need movement in order to act like pumps and push fluid in and out of them and when you are not moving for long periods of time blood cannot properly flow. As the muscles sit there dormant and build up garbage, the pain will become more and more intense. With simple actions and stretches that keep the muscles gently moving, the pain will lessen as the day goes on instead of growing.

Little movements go a long way.

Make sure that you set a reminder either on your computer or on your phone to get up every twenty minutes approximately. This does not have to be a walk to the water cooler or a prolonged conversation with a colleague. This is as simple as standing up at your desk and walking around the chair or just standing up in place and shifting your weight around or just doing some stretches with your arms above your head. The act of simply getting up and resetting your posture and doing this a few times a day will make a world of difference.

Try to find a time when you can consistently stand. Maybe you find yourself on the phone a lot. Someone who does this can stand up every time the phone rings or every time you make an outgoing call.  If you have a specific routine every day, you can set standing up to happen at a certain part in that routine consistently. Find times throughout the day that you can get up consistently and take advantage of those times. Once you get in a good rhythm, you will find that you will no longer need that reminder.

The video below shows you certain stretches, some that can be done while sitting and others are suggestions for things that you can do when you stand up. Doing stretches while you are sitting, while not preferred over standing, can also give your back relief and allow some blood to flow through the muscles and joints. These stretches can be done throughout the day and can help save you years of chronic pain.

Avoidance is never the answer.

Ignoring the nagging pain that you feel every day or brushing it off as nothing more than a small nuisance that will get better on its own, will set you up for a life of chronic pain. Eventually, you will no longer be able to manage the pain. This can takes days, months and even years to come to a point where you are no longer able to tolerate the pain, but rest assured that it will happen, affecting not only your work but your life in general.

Identify chronic pain as earlier as possible.

How do you know if the pain won't go away on its own?  If you find that the pain that at first happened once every other month is now happening once a month or if you find that the pain that you were able to resolve and get moving with just a hot shower or ten minutes of rest in the morning now takes a few hours to subside, then you are probably already on the path to chronic pain. Addressing the problem by seeing a physical therapist as early in the cycle as possible will save you time and money.

Read more Sports Doc for Sports Medicine and Fitness.