Help! I Sit Too Much! What Can I Do?

We’ve all heard the news: Sitting is the new smoking. What’s worse is that every year more and more research substantiates the deleterious effects of prolonged sitting. However, for those of you whose livelihood requires long hours seated, you may be wondering, “What can I do? I know it’s not good to sit for a long time, but what can I do about it?”

Well, if you are one of these people, tune in! We can help! There are four basic things to remember regarding seated posture.

1) The human body is not designed to be sitting for long periods of time - getting up and moving around every 20 minutes or so is important.

2) Regular change is a good for our body! Periodically switching the surface you are sitting on will help to slow some of the deconditioning that occurs with prolonged sitting (ex: 20 min on a chair, 20 min on an exercise ball, 20 min standing, repeat)

3) While sitting on a standard office chair, sit on the front half of the chair. This will tilt your pelvis forward, thus bringing a natural curve into your low back, which in turn brings your shoulders back, straightening the top portion of your spine and avoiding that dreaded “hump” which can develop from years of sitting and bending/stooping over.

4) This may be the most important one here and the most often overlooked. There is absolutely no replacement for quality chiropractic care. Receiving regular care will have a profound effect on normalizing the tone of the intrinsic muscles of your spine, allowing you to enjoy better posture without even having to think about it. Can you say enhanced unconscious proprioception?! It’s as simple as that!

We hope this information helps you make a more informed choice regarding you daily habits. Please be sure to forward this along to anyone that you think could benefit from this information.