Strategies for sitting down all day and not destroying my body

[Sam Cannons]

I have just started a new job were i sit down for 9-10hrs a day !! I have been in it for 3 weeks now and have already notice some slight back pain (lower right side) and so strength loss is squating (a couple of kilos). Now i follow a pretty good mobility warm up based off MM and some pavel/sonnon stuff and i stretch usually every second workout for about 15 min mostly hit hammies and hip region. Now apart from quiting (i probly will anyway) what else can i do to avoid these problems. Workout wise i follow the PM WOD with some BJJ and gymnastics.

Thanks guys and gals

[Steven Low]

Do you absolutely have to sit down?

If so, I would make yourself some kind of notes that tell you to fix your posture. Once you get used to doing it you try to fix it a lot which helps significantly, and also after you start fixing it you can tell because if you have khyphosis you generally have a sore neck as well as rhomboids as you try to fix yourself up. Lower back back should go away with a straightened spine because it loads it properly (assuming it's not an underlying condition).

[Greg Everett]

I finally broke down and bought one of those foam lumbar support pads for my office chair because the reality is that I sit for hours and hours every day and that's not likely to change soon. I've known forever that my lumbar spine was in some degree of flexion most of that time, and I don't imagine that contributes much to its health. So aside from trying to get up and move as much as possible during the day, I'd consider one of those things to at least mitigate the problems of the actual sitting.

[Nikki Young]

I got a lumber support pillow for my mum to use after she slipped a disc in her low back a while ago and the pain eased. When she started to sit for too long her low back would start to hurt a lot. She first used a roll of bubble wrap she found when we where in a stationary store because she couldn't find a proper pillow, it worked well until all the bubbles popped! I got her one similar to this, a bit bigger http://www.safetyandmobility.com.au/...pup.php?id=467 she uses it and doesn't have back pain, so i can only presume it helps with keeping good posture (plus sitting up-right and not hunched over).

[Allen Yeh]

Originally Posted by Greg Everett

So aside from trying to get up and move as much as possible during the day.

Bam! I've found that even pushing up with the arm rests a few times is enough. I'd also recommend hip flexor stretching when possible.

What Steven said is important as well, adjust your desk to make sure you aren't sitting over your keyboard all hunched over. Make sure you are putting your neck in weird positions to look at your monitor. Make sure you aren't reaching weirdly for things i.e. mouse...etc

[Garrett Smith]

I suggest standing computer work stations, specially made or jury-rigged.

[Mike ODonnell]

Besides a lumbar support chair and getting up every 30min....on your off time you will need to counteract the issues from prolonged sitting. Namely spinal deloading and stretching the lower back and hamstrings. Also check posture as it is hard to keep good form while sitting on a computer or phone all day (Bring a small band to work and exercise retracting back your scapulas) Keep up the mobility work outside of work and if your back starts to hurt just lay on the ground, flatten your back with your hips rotated forward and your feet up on something like a few pillows at a 90deg angle.....or even better yet get an inversion table/gravity boots to relax with. In a sense just make sure you don't digress down that path most people end with back pain and go to chiropractors for. Since you are already active and take care of yourself I am sure you will be fine.

[Yuen Sohn]

Yeah, starting a desk job was the shits and the pits for my lower back as well. When I started working in an office after college, I had some pretty bad and frustrating back pain that eventually lasted many years.

Some great advice given already, so I'll just mention what worked for me:

-I got a new height-adjustable chair and set it to the lowest possible setting so that I never had to hunch over to type or look at the screen. It also has fairly good lumbar padding, so I think I tend to maintain decent posture, even after a 12 hour day.

-I spend as much time out of the office NOT sitting or standing...at home I read, draw, surf the internet on the floor, lying on my stomach.

-I make sure to stretch out the hamstrings, as mine get pretty tight.

-Of course doing quality exercises (squats, pulls, etc), which I know you're already aware of.

So far so good. Haven't had significant pain for a good year now, and actually the back is feeling pretty darn healthy nowadays.

I've been looking into getting a standing workstation as Garrett mentioned. And as a long-term goal, that cattle and coffee farm in Costa Rica is sounding pretty attractive

[Gant Grimes]

It seems a small thing, but take your wallet out of your hip pocket.

[William Hunter]

Originally Posted by Gant Grimes

It seems a small thing, but take your wallet out of your hip pocket.

"pocket tumor"