Sitting for your spine is like sugar for your teeth

- By Luke Mulvihill

In our modern society it’s easy to spend over half our waking hours sitting. Sitting on our commute – if we’re lucky. Sitting at a desk. Sitting on the couch. In fact on average around 9 hours a day are spent sitting, sedentary. The accumulative effect is not only detrimental to our spines but has an overall negative effect on our nervous system and health.

When we sit we dis-engage most of our postural muscles and load our body weight onto the bones of our spine. Although our spine is designed with three curves to carry and evenly distribute the weight of our bodies when standing, it is not as efficient when we sit.

When we sit down we remove the natural forward curve in our low back. This in turn loads more pressure onto the discs and bones of the lower spine. Over time the extra strain causes degenerative changes to the discs – the shock absorbers of the spine- and the bones of the spine. Degenerative damage to the spine causes ligaments and joints to become less mobile further adding to the amount of wear and tear and causing pain and symptoms. Just like sugar degrades our teeth, sitting degrades our spines.

Sitting in a hands forward, head forward “screen” posture also causes the straightening of the normal curve in our necks. By straightening the cervical curve we add tension and stress to the spinal cord, which is housed and protected by the vertebrae of the spine.  Stretching the spinal cord can be likened to stretching a rubber band. The increased tension in the spinal cord alters the tone of the messages being sent and received by the brain, resulting in a state of chronic stress. This stressful situation, known as Sympathetic Dominance, not only increases pain perception but is a pre-cursor to many other debilitating health issues. 

The best course of action is to take positive steps to increase the amount of standing and walking we do from day to day. The use of sit/stand desks are a good idea to reduce the impact of sitting. There are also many simple exercises you can do in the office that help reduce the stress on our spine and nervous system. Perhaps the most important thing to do is consult a chiropractor for a spine and posture tune-up to help keep the spine moving, restore the correct postural curves  and reduce the stress in the nervous system.