Do you have 'sitting disease'?

Look at that.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sitting-disease/MY02177/rss=1

Sorry, but in my opinion, this is b***t.

There is an obvious correlation between people who are sitting in front of the TV 3 hours a day and junk food consumption. Specially, when you look at nutrition nowadays.(More on this subject later).

Anyway, in our case, there is some truth. Too much sitting is bad for the spine, we went over this yesterday.

Mostly because of one of the biggest strength of our body, adaptation. Funny, isn't it ?

I guess, like me, you still need to work on a computer, or stuck to a desk. Like a big part of the US population. Or standing up all the time. like another big part of the population. In any case, you are facing a big issue. Neither standing or sitting is good. (sleeping or laying down is, by the way).

I tried working standing up, when the pain was unbearable.

I built my own standing desk.(yes, i am that cheap).

Result: After a couple of weeks, i still had some back pain, little different, but still. and other part were aching as well. Knees, Leg.

Then, what is good ?

What is good is switching stance. And stretching.

If you have a standing desk, make sure it is adjustable, and easy to do so.

And move it every half hour. Sit. Stand. Sit. Stand. People will laugh at you. Just Sit. And Stand again.

And after adjusting it, everytime, go for a tour. And a couple of standing stretches.

Basically, relax your hips, abs and all those contracted muscles. It is true for the upper body too. 

Ironies. Is if you are a smoker and go for one every half hour, just the fact of standing, walking, and moving will greatly reduce the tension on those muscles and help prevent back pain. (it may help your career as well, if your boss is a smoker).Eventually, you may die from something else, but with a strong back.

Did i say smoking is good for you ?

If you do not have 800$ to spend on a standing desk, or are not working at Google, Facebook or Apple, there are cheaper options:

Easy to switch between kneeling and sitting. you cannot really stand, but you can work by kneeling on the floor ;)

Now, OK, you got it. you have to switch between sitting and standing up, as often as you can.

NOT THAT FAST. Trick is, if your psoas is already f** up, super tight, it will stay like that, even when you are standing up. Yes, this explain the tilt of the hips. Basically, this helps only if you are already in good shape.

Quick test.

Stand back against a wall. Stand as straight as you can. Heel touching the wall, Shoulders as well.  Pass a hand in your back arch. What is the space between your back and the wall ? should be around the size of your finger, or your hand flat. Same space that if you are lying down. Me ? Twice this size. Always the same. Even standing, psoas is tight, pelvis is titled, etc.. You got the picture.

http://www.creatingwellnesschiro.com/uploads/Posture_self_test.pdf

Here they say between 1 and 2 inches. 2 inches seems a lot to me.

Then we are back to the same point than yesterday. If you are not hurt, switching stance and stretching every half hour are great tool to trick the body's adaptation mechanism, and release tension in the contracted muscles.

If you are already hurt, unfortunately,

you have to go back on basics. Work on your core, and stretch seriously those muscles.

By the way, you can work your core while sitting, but this is really ridiculous.

What about me ?

I do not care about ridicule. Just bought one. Today. No kidding. I will let you know if that works for me.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/23113-exercise-ball-chair-exercises/

Comments are welcome. if you tried something you want to share, do not hesitate.