So in ‘Part I’ we learned that the angle of the pelvis determines whether you end up with good sitting posture throughout the whole spine or terrible posture throughout the whole spine. In this article we will begin to look at practical solutions.

A question for you . . .

How did we learn to roll our pelvis backward and screw up any hope of great sitting posture?

Well just consider your plastic school seats. Yes, the ones you spent the 13 formative years of your life sitting in. Consider the angle of the seat. Does the word ‘bucket’ come to mind? Yup. The base of the seat your bum connects with is angled … backward! It slopes down toward the back right? How about your car seats? I do believe we even have seats called ‘bucket seats’ in cars. Once again every hour in the car is training your pelvis to ‘roll backwards’.

So our first plan of attack when trying to improve our posture is ‘How do we increase our forward pelvic tilt when sitting? I trust it has become clear that the first thing we must address when we are trying to achieve good sitting posture is not the back support, not the desk height, monitor height or any other variable but the angle of the base of the chair

Don’t sit in a bucket!

These days any office chair worth its salt will have an adjustment where you can tilt the base of the chair forward. In other words make the bit your bum is in contact with either dead flat or slightly lower at the front than the back. Avoiding the ‘bucket’ where the rear of the base is lower than the front. Newer cars will have the same kind of adjustment in the car seat, where you can drop the front of the seat base somewhat and get away from the bucket effect.

If your car or office chair does not have these adjustments then there are options. The cheap option is purchasing a ‘posture wedge.’ This is a square of quality foam that sits on your chair or car seat. It is thicker at the back and tapers toward the front, eliminating the bucket effect of your seat and helping your pelvis to tilt forward. So for about $60 go here to check out a good quality posture wedge.

The expensive option is buy a new car! Or buy a new chair!

For those who move about somewhat . . .

If you are on and off your seat and not sitting at a computer all day, then a saddle seat like the one our friend on the right is sitting on is a great option. Check out Bambach saddle seats for the original patented high-quality one or eBay, Officeworks or Amazon for a cheaper brand of saddle seat.

For those who are chair-bound . . .

If you are in an office job and sitting all day, you are better off in a traditional office chair with all the right adjustments.

The right seat is not the whole story, you have to know how to use it. Sounds complicated right? Well there are a few tips that make a world of difference. For more practical tips read on here.

 

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– Tim