5 office tricks that save the spine
Do you know who hates returning from your days off the desk more than you? Your spine! Make the heavy task of sitting all day easier and take care of your back without leaving work. Here are the physiotherapist's advice.
That's right - without leaving work. Together with Piotr Turski - a physiotherapy specialist - we have prepared for you a list of five simple things that you can do for your spine every day - and with almost no effort. Instead of complaining every day that your whole back hurts again, just try our ways!
Table of Contents
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Sit on your buttocks, not your back
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Raise the chair
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Stagger every hour, get up and go for the water
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Keep your head on your neck ...
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Take care of your paravertebral muscles
Sit on your buttocks, not your back
You also need to be able to sit, because when you do it wrong, you run the risk of chronic inflammation. - The so-called comfortable sitting causes excessive stretching of the short ligaments between the sacrum and the last lumbar vertebra. The result is inflammation that spreads to the back and back of the thighs, explains Piotr Turski, a physiotherapy specialist. Therefore, when sitting, always push your buttocks to the end of the seat and rest your entire back on the backrest. If you feel tension in the "cross", put your hand between the lumbar spine and the chair and hold it there 10 minutes - it will relieve the loins.
Raise the chair
If you get tired of the above described position, do not hang from the chair like a wilted lily, just raise it by 5 cm. Sit so that the buttocks land on the edge of the seat, one foot firmly on the floor, the other under the chair. Note: the elbows must be on the countertop! - Such a position forces the correct back shape and appropriate muscle tension - explains Piotr Turski. - When you get tired of it, lower the chair and return to sitting with your back on the backrest. It is worth remembering that sitting cannot be a passive act, we must sit "actively", engaging the muscles. Only then can we avoid back pain.
Stagger every hour, get up and go for the water
Yes, not for a cigarette, not for a sweet bar from a vending machine, but for water. Your spine is also thirsty, and regular hydration of the body is needed for the proper functioning of the intervertebral discs (this is a type of shock absorbers between individual vertebrae). Remember to drink every cup of coffee or tea with a glass of water. - It is not a joke, both of these drinks have a dehydrating effect, and dehydration of the body promotes inflammation, also in soft tissues along the spine - warns Piotr Turski.
Your back will also be grateful for a solid stretch - this way you will relax muscles tensed from work in one position.
Keep your head on your neck ...
... and don't make an "inquisitive turtle." So do not stick your head forward, like a turtle does to get a lettuce leaf, because if you keep this position longer, you will have neck pain (and also overload your lower back). Do you want to know how much time your paravertebral muscles last without pain? As long as you manage to hold a kilo of sugar in front of you, or about 15 minutes. And since your head weighs at least 5 kg, keeping it on your neck for a long time will definitely end badly for the muscles that surround your spine. So remember: head straight (because you should have the center of the monitor exactly at the line of sight, you surely know?), Chin retracted.
– If you still do not know what this position should look like, put your index finger on your chin and without straining your neck muscles, "push" your chin back - explains our expert.
Take care of your paravertebral muscles
The exercises are very healthy and nobody likes them. If you don't have time, money or will (cross out if unnecessary) to regularly visit the pool, gym or at least stretch at home, you can still take care of the muscles surrounding your spine. - All you have to do is walk, tightening your lower abdominal muscles, i.e. pulling your stomach and tightening your buttocks. When you are sitting at the desk, connect the shoulder blades every hour and stretch the neck up - in the axis of the body. Hold in this position for 10 seconds. Every hour, sitting on a chair in an upright position, stretch your buttocks 10 times - advises the physiotherapist. You can also put a sensory motor cushion on the chair, which forces the so-called dynamic sitting and stimulates the micro-movements of intervertebral discs (humanly speaking, you need to balance the abdomen so as not to fly off it). Similar action has a large, inflatable rehabilitation ball, which you can replace the office chair. At first, it is best to sit alternately on the ball and chair.
source: www.prevention.com