You’re fully immersed in your job, You check the time and realize it’s been 4 hours since you last got out of your chair. Our computer-driven culture binds people to their offices, even though most experts advocate having some action every 20-30 minutes. Sitting all day is much more harmful than smoking, it is a disease itself. It has been linked to chronic illness and can damage your spine.
Workplaces that allow workers to sit for long periods of time are at the root of the problem being the number one cause of Degenerative Disk Disease which is worn-down vertebral discs causing extreme back pain.
Impact and Health Risks
Although being glued to your screen all day can be unavoidable, you may add more activity by paying attention to your posture and move more. But, in order to fully comprehend why you should stop sitting for long hours, you must first understand the medical consequences it may lead to.
While sitting can be soothing, it puts stress on your back, neck muscles and discs causing your spine to become sore, rigid and putting you in pain. This position causes tightness in your hip flexors, such as the iliopsoas muscle, as well as pressure and ischemia on your gluteus Maximus which is the primary spine support.
In addition to that, the more you sit, the more likely your posture will deteriorate. Bad posture can strain your spinal discs and cause the ligaments in your spine to stretch beyond their safe limits. This causes increased strain on the disc’s outer annulus, which can lead to disc bulging and pressures. Moreover, we spend a lot of time sitting on a desk, working on computers or writing, which results in a forward head stance and rounded shoulder posture, also known as “bad posture syndrome.”
Solutions
- The easiest way to keep your spine stable and your body healthy at work and elsewhere is to mix less sitting, more standing, and moving in between while varying postures during the day. It’s also important to include vigorous activities every half hour in order to maintain your spinal joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments in good shape.
- It’s better to be proactive with disk disease because once it hits you, a journey of pain management and surgeries that might not end up successful will begin. Swimming is one thing highly recommended as a reactive and proactive measure in soothing symptoms and treating it in early stages.
- Stretching the muscles that regularly gotten to be tight such as the pectorals, scalene traps within the neck, and the hip flexors.
- Also, it is vital to reinforce muscles that are not utilized like abdominals, gluteus, back extensors and scapular muscles that will reestablish the spine’s normal muscular balance, reduce pain and improve posture which will put you at less risk of having disk degenerative disease.
- Investing in medical office chair and a foot rest under your desk, will help you keep changing positions.
- One solution that can be beneficial for the company’s productivity and its employee’s wellness is implementing the IAMSAFE system in its premises. Being connected to a pedometer, participating in steps challenges and getting rewarded will encourage employees to engage in more physical activity reducing the risk of Disk Degenerative Disease.