Sitting Slumped Creates Pain

Sitting Slumped Increases Neck and Upper Back Pain

Since the first lockdown in March 2020, I have been seeing a lot of people who are having neck and upper back pain from working at home. In the past year, many people have added ergonomic furniture to the home office, but this hasn’t always resulted in less pain. Researchers from Denmark looked at the effects of sitting in a slouched manner vs sitting upright. There were some interesting results.

The obvious result was that sitting in a slumped position with no arm support (arm rests) was the most uncomfortable position. The next-worst position was slumped with arm support. Interestingly, the next one was sitting straight upright with arm rests. Finally, sitting upright without arm supports was least uncomfortable. Another finding was that ANY seated position caused some discomfort.

The thing to remember is that posture is all important. Sitting with your head over your shoulders and shoulders over your hips aligns the body over the support structure of your spine. If you have arm rests, make sure they are not too high, which will elevate your shoulders and activate the trapezius muscles, making them tight. One other thing to remember is that sitting for a prolonged time will always cause some pain or stiffness, so change your position often… get up and walk around, stretch, get a drink of water, etc. Our bodies were built to move, not sit still!

Chiropractic treatment is very helpful for neck and upper back pain.

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