How to Sit

I just had a couple of things I wanted to share with you regarding sitting because it’s patients unknowingly beat themselves up by sitting all day. Chiropractors encounter so many people that sit all day. In Edmonton, we have many so patients that commute from Edmonton to Fort Mac, and/or drive truck for 12 hours a day, 5 to 6 days a week! The problem is: you’ve got to sit sometimes and you can’t just quit your job, so what are you going to do?

How to Sit Video


You’ve got to have something to be able limit the amount of stress that you’re experiencing during the day with you’re sitting… because if you’re going to be sitting 6, 8, 10 hours a day I can guarantee you that’s going to be hard on your spine. You need some strategy from day to day to figure out how to deal with this!

The first rule of thumb: when you’re sitting, make sure that you change positions frequently. We used to teach you to sit up straight and have good posture but it’s actually better to vary your posture frequently…Like having your hand rested on your head, then leaning on the other.. etc. It’s perfectly ok to do this! The most important part is that you’re changing positions frequently.

Secondly, have something behind your back: some chairs (if they’re really expensive) might have a really good lumbar support, but what you want is a special device (see the video) and place it right behind you There’s a lot of research to show that when you’re sitting and with a good curve behind your back it’s going to put less stress on your spine than if you’re just sitting without one of these devices… so it’s a simple thing that you can do.

Third, stand up then sit right back down every 8 to 10 minutes. Get a timer or your computer or phone and set it to go off every 10 minutes. When your timer goes off, stand up and sit back down -it’s as easy as that.

Now when you stand up, what you want to do is arch your back by pushing your belly button out locking your back while you stand up…if you’ve been sitting for some period of time the research shows that once you’ve stood up, it’s a great idea to gently arch your back (with belly button pushed out again – see the video). Do that arch for 30 to 40 seconds before you start walking away.

I just thought I’d give you guys a few tips those are some simple things that you can do on your own to help put off the stress and pain of a lower back problem –