DDB Physiotherapy

Sitting down is known to be a factor in lower back pain and recent research has shown that sitting upright is not the most helpful position in the office. As large numbers of people spend much of their day sitting both at work and at home this is an important issue in the development and maintenance of low back pain.
The Aberdeen UK researchers, reported on the BBC Health website, using an MRI which could scan people in alternative positions to lying down, found that an angle of 135 degree leaning back in sitting was the posture in which the lumbar spine suffered the least stress.
The 135 degree position was compared to slouching and to sitting up straight and judged to be the posture which was most likely to allow back pain relief. However, did you know that at 135 degrees the person is likely to slide repeatedly off the seat, so that 120 degrees may be a better compromise.
A helpful idea can be to use a posture chair such as a kneeling chair or knee chair, which allows maintenance of the better posture with less strain.