So in ‘Part II‘ we started to cover some practical seating solutions to achieve good sitting posture and help you be free from pain. In this article I’ll give you further tips to help achieve good sitting posture and pain relief.

Let me just remind you that we weren’t born with terrible sitting posture. It is LEARNED . . .

Next time you think of it: observe a two or three-year-old sitting on the floor playing with toys. When they are sitting you will notice that their back is straight. They are sitting ‘effortlessly’ with the pelvis tilted forward. If that was you or I sitting on the floor we would most likely have our pelvis rolled backward, crunching our stomach and stooping our head and arms forward in a nice big C-shape like Neanderthal man. But junior has not yet learned this! It is our bucket-shaped school seats and car seats that have taught us so well!

So after reading the first couple of articles you have either adjusted your existing chair or purchased a posture wedge or new chair. Or even a new car? Yes, I have had patients just go out and replace their car!! Now for two more vital tips on maintaining good sitting posture and pain relief:

Sit taller . . .

When you sit in a low chair so that your knees are higher than your hips, it is virtually impossible to retain a forward tilt of the pelvis. So the next thing to do to improve and retain a good posture is to sit taller. When your thighs are angled down a little so that your knees are lower than your hips it is much more natural to sit well. You will notice that with our friend on the right, he is sitting taller than his alter ego on the left. His knees are lower than his hips. This makes a huge difference. If you are in an office chair raise the hydraulic lift. If you are in a car it is often possible to raise the seat. The roof becomes the only hindrance. In a car I would go as high as you can without hitting your cranium on the roof.

I have consistently observed patients with chronic lower back pain suffer more directly in proportion to how close their car seat is to the floor! When the seat is closer to the floor the knees are higher than the hips and the spinal posture just suffers. Taller seats like in 4WD or all-wheel drive cars are better on backs.

Keep your feet planted . . .

Your feet need to remain in contact with the floor. When you can distribute a percentage of your body weight onto your feet so that it’s not all on your bum, it is much easier to retain good posture. In the car scenario this means use cruise control when you can and keep your feet flat.

Now that you have got it right, how do you stay there? The final article will address minor details that can make the major difference between whether you keep up your new good habits!

 

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– Tim