back pain | Midlands Physio

How To Sit Comfortably For Long Periods Without Getting Back Pain

admin — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 09:38:35 +0000

Do you suffer from back pain when you have to sit at work or drive for a period of time?

Have you been told that this could be down to your posture and in order to prevent this back pain from happening you should sit up straight with ‘better posture’?.

If you answered yes then please read on because I’m going to share a simple bit of advice that could make your day a lot easier.

We can’t avoid sitting.

You’ll probably have heard or read some quotes that say ‘sitting is the new smoking’ and is a serious health risk of the 21st century and while I feel this may be a little over the top, too much sitting and not enough varied movement is not ideal for anyone.

However, we all have to sit for often long periods of time at some stage, whether we like it or not. So, instead of just bashing sitting and saying that you shouldn’t sit for too long, let’s look at a way that we can make it easier for you, especially if you suffer from back ache.

How can you sit without causing back ache.

In order to sit comfortably for long periods without ending up with back pain, you need to sit in a way that avoids putting excessive tension on your low back .

Often when people come to the clinic with back pain they will be sitting in an opposite way to this…… very straight and upright ……because that is how we have been told we should sit …or else we will end up with a bad back.

But there is a big problem with this and it is often not the best way to sit if you suffer with back pain, and here is why.

The problem with ‘good posture’

If you sit up really straight in what traditionally would be called ‘good posture’, you will feel two ridges of muscles sticking out either side of the spine. They will feel quite tense.

If you stay in this position for a long time, those muscles will start to get tired and you will find that you will naturally want to slouch a little.

What you will actually find is that when you slouch a little bit, the tension will go out of those muscles and your back will feel more relaxed, which will make sitting for long periods much more comfortable for you.

So, if you complain of low back after sitting, then you can try this out.

How to sit with a ‘relaxed posture’

The first thing you need to do is to sit right into the chair. Make sure your lower back up to your mid back area is in contact with the back of the chair.

Now allow the rest of your back, from the mid back area up, to relax. This DOES NOT need to touch against the chair.

If you struggle to relax your upper back, a good tip to do is to take three exhales or three sighs to help it drop and slouch a little.

When you do this, put your hands behind your back and you SHOULD NOT feel those ridges of muscle either side of your spine. They should feel soft and relaxed.

From there you want to breathe in a calm and relaxed way, in and out through your nose as you sit and go about your days work.

Of course, it is advisable to change position every now and then, or get up and move around if you have the option to do so.

While, there is no such thing as the perfect posture (in my eyes anyways) , I do believe that the best posture is one that is able to adapt to different positions and do not hold excessive tension in a particular area.

If you need help reach out

If you, or someone you know, are struggling with back pain when driving or sitting for long periods then please know that this can be helped.

You can contact us by calling 09064 66761 to see how we can help or you can book a physio appointment online at www.midlandsphysio.ie

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7 Key Things You Need To Know About Low Back Pain

admin — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 11:25:44 +0000

Here are 7 key things you NEED to know if you want to overcome back pain.

The treatment for back pain has come on greatly in the last 20 years thanks to some great research and amazing work done by these researchers to help therapists change their treatment approach.

While there are many therapists who keep up to date with the evidence and best practice for treating back pain, unfortunately there are many healthcare settings who still don’t.

Therefore, the best practice and management of back pain is often not practiced and there are still many myths and misconceptions regarding back that are outdated and, quite frankly, not true.

In this blog I want to help you get up to date with the latest research and best treatment practice for back pain.
Let’s break some of those old myths that still exist about back pain and help you regain control of your back and live a healthy active life free without back pain getting in the way.

If you are currently not suffering with back pain but know of a friend or loved one who is, then please share this blog with them as it may just be the helping hand that they need.

The Old Myths vs The New Facts You Need To Know When It Comes To Back Pain

Myth1 : Back Pain is usually a serious medical condition

Fact: Back pain can be scary, worrying, distressing and disabling but is rarely life threatening. You are very likely to end up in a wheelchair due to back pain.

Myth 2: Low back pain will become more persistent and get worse in later life

Fact: This is a widespread belief that getting older can cause or worsen your back pain but it is not true. Research does not support this, and evidence-based treatments can help at any age.

Myth 3: Persistent back pain is always related to tissue damage

Fact: Backs are strong and persistent pain is rarely associated with serious tissue damage. If you have had an injury, tissue healing occurs within 3 months so if pain persists beyond that time, it means they are other contributing factors.

Myth 4 : Scans are always needed to detect the cause of low back pain

Fact: Scans rarely show the cause of back pain. They are only helpful to the minority of people.
Many MRI findings from scans are normal in people with NO back pain.

Myth 5: Low back pain is caused by poor posture when sitting, standing or bending

Fact: Back pain is not caused by poor posture even though sitting, standing and bending may be painful.. It’s safe and more efficient to sit in a relaxed way and a variety of posture are helpful for the back

Myth 6: Back pain is caused by having a weak core

Fact: Weak core muscles do not cause back pain. In fact, people with back pain often tense their core muscles as a protective response which can cause further stiffness and pain.

Myth 7: Treatments such as strong medications, injections and surgery are effective and necessary to treat low back pain.

Fact: Wrong, they are not a cure. They have been shown to be not very effective in finding long term solutions for back pain.

With Knowledge Comes Power

There you have it. 7 myths and misconceptions that you may have heard before regarding treatment of back pain. As you can see, they are not true and there is plenty of evidence out there to back that up.

There are indeed more and maybe I will need to do a follow up blog to go through those also. Hopefully, you learned something from this blog today and it gives you some inspiration and motivation to overcome your back pain and lasting relief, even if you have tried before.

If you need help and guidance, as the vast majority of people do, and you like to adopt the Midlands Physio approach, we have a 5 step pathway that we use to help all of our back pain clients.

If you have been suffering with back pain for over 3 months and it is not going away even though you have tried many things to do then you can apply for a free phone consultation to see if our 5 step treatment pathway is right for you.

Fill in your details in the form below to apply for a free phone consultation

Thanks for reading,

Derek Stenson