Travel physical therapy professionals see dozens of patients who spend hours sitting at work every day. Besides increasing risk of cardiovascular disease, sitting for too long is a common cause of lower back pain.
Even when employees make a note of good posture, they revert to hunching over their desk, placing increased stress on their spines. As those on travel assignments know, the spine is made up of 24 interlocking vertebrae. Ligaments, or fibrous tissue, connects those bones in our spine, and to prevent our vertebrae from crunching against each other, spinal discs act as a cushion between them.
Although lifting heavy objects or excessive twisting and turning movement puts stress on the back, sitting completely still may cause our backs to ache as well. The lower back must prop up the weight of the top half of the body.
In fact, around 8 out of 10 people suffer from either acute or chronic back pain, according to the National Institutes of Health. But it's not only the sedentary job. After work, many people come home and engage in more sedentary activities like watching television or sitting around a dinner table talking.
Chairs matter
Like a small shoe that creates blisters on your feet, a bad chair may spell trouble for your patient's back. The more of the stress load she displaces onto the chair, the less work her back muscles will have to do.
Instruct your patients to get a chair that fits. Here are some rules to sit by:
- Five chair legs are better than four because of added stability
- Sit completely against the back of the chair
- Feet should reach the floor
- Hips should be the same level as the knees
- Forearms should rest easily on the armrests
Fight the 'chained to desk' feeling
To counteract sitting time, tell your patients to start getting in the habit of taking breaks. Here are some ways to do this:
- Plan a 10-minute activity break at a scheduled time every day.
- Replace desk chairs with stability balls to burn more calories while working. Or, you could use a standing desk to ditch the chair entirely.
- Park farther away from where you work, shop, study, play and worship
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
- Place printers a short walking distance away from the work desk or study space rather than right next to it.
- Stand up and stretch at intervals during the day. Stretching before meetings can help get the blood flowing.