How to Relieve Your Lower Back Pain after Sitting Too Much

Most people will experience back pain at least once in their life, and it’s essentially a guarantee since almost everyone will find themselves working long hours at a desk job at some point.

Back pain often triggers because of a lot of daily tasks accumulating pressure on your back. Because sitting puts a lot of pressure on your spine, nutrition and toxins don’t get transported properly because of this, which leads to the joints being damaged in the long run.

Here are a few, easy steps you can take to relieve your back pain, especially when you’re at work:

1. Understand the basics of posture.
Posture is how you hold your body, whether you’re standing up, sitting down, or performing different tasks. Correct alignment of vertebra, or spine, means that your posture is good, while a poor alignment of your spine means that your posture is bad.

This poor alignment can either be the result of a poor cervical and lumbar curve (which you get when you slouch), or a sharp and exaggerated spinal curve (which you get when you stand too stiffly).

Ideally, you want to sit straight on a chair with good lumbar (lower back) support, as this will take a lot of the weight and pressure off of your spinal column and vertebral bones.

2. Stand up every now and then.
If your work involves you sitting down for long periods of time, standing up every now and then can work wonders in reducing any discomfort you feel, especially if that pain is in your lower back.

Taking a short walk can also do a lot to not just get your mind off your back pain, but also to improve your mood with fresh air and a change of scenery for a few minutes.

This serves as a way for you to “reboot” your mind before going back to your tasks, even if it’s just going to the water cooler for a drink, or having a cup of coffee at work.

3. Do stretch exercises.
Stretching should also help you a lot, along with a few easy exercises you can do while you’re at your desk:

• Shoulder-blade squeeze – Start by sitting up straight in your chair with your hands rested on your thighs. From a resting position, with your shoulders down and your chin on level with the ground, slowly draw them back.
Squeeze your shoulder blades together and hold while counting slowly to five. Relax and repeat.

• Arm-across-chest stretch – Raise either your right or left arm to shoulder level in front of you, and bend towards you while still staying level to the floor. Use the opposite hand and pull across your chest. Hold for twenty seconds. Do this to each arm in sets of three.