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How Long Sitting Affects Your Spine
Long-term sitting will become the natural state of things because, when you work at a desk or use a computer every day, it doesn’t seem that it has anything to do with your spine. Human body is not meant to remain at one place over a long period of time. By sitting too long, you put your spine in constant tension, which may gradually cause pain and chronic problems.
Compression of the spine is one of the initial occurrences during the protracted sitting. When you sit down and spend hours there your spinal discs are cushions between the bones which begin to compress. This pressure, then, can stiffen and result in lower back stiffness or pain. That is why most individuals will be uncomfortable, or tight after sitting long-term without any movement.
Poor posture, which comes up as a result of sitting, is another significant problem. You may begin in a straight posture, but tend to progressively bend forward, hunch your shoulders, or stoop. This causes additional strain to your back and the muscles around. Once it becomes a routine, your body starts to get used to such a faulty posture, and you find it difficult to sit right later on.
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Sedentary life also makes the muscles helping to support your back weak. The responsibilities of maintaining the spine stable are left to your core muscles such as, your abdominal and lower back muscles. These muscles are inactive when you sit too long without the engagement. As time goes by, they weaken and this implies that your spine is less supported and at risk of being strained and painful.
Besides muscle weakness, sitting prolongs during the day slows blood flow in your body. Slow blood flow decreases the supply of oxygen and other nutrients to your muscles and this can cause fatigability and stiffness. This is the reason as to why you feel fatigued or are feeling uncomfortable even though you are neither engaged in any physical work.
The other significant aspect is that of low back pressure. Sitting do exerts more stress on the lumbar part of your spine than a stand; however, its effect varies depending on posture. Such constant strain would eventually result in chronic back pains in the lower back without proper support.
The good news is that these are not permanent effects provided that you take simple measures to minimize the effects of long sitting. Using your legs frequently, bending down, bending up, and keeping your spine straight can also make your spine healthy. The minor modifications into your daily routine might make your back feel a lot better.
Ultimately, sitting is not the issue, but rather sitting too long while sitting without touching the surface or getting support that is harmful. The first step to preventing pain and being able to maintain better posture in your everyday life is to understand how it impacts your spine.