Sitting for long amounts of time might lead to back pain or aggravate an existing condition. Sitting and keeping a static posture puts a lot of strain on your back, arms, legs, and shoulders, resulting in back pain.
It also puts a lot of strain on your back muscles and discs in your spine. In general, a variety of factors can contribute to back pain while sitting, but the two most common causes are poor posture and prolonged sitting.
In this post, we will go over some of the reasons for back pain as well as some preventative steps that can help you manage or avoid it completely. If your back hurts while you are sitting at your desk or playing video games, this article will help you discover a remedy.
What are the Most Common Causes of Sitting Back Pain?
Back pain can be caused by a variety of factors, and the severity of the pain varies greatly from person to person.
Someone with a muscle strain might be moderately uncomfortable, while someone else might be completely disabled. Pain may develop and subside for a time, only to reappearance after some time while rapidly escalating.
The most common symptom of back pain while sitting is lower back discomfort, which can be caused by a variety of factors, including the following:
Axial Irritation
Axial back pain is one of the most common causes of lower back discomfort while sitting. This back pain can be acute or dull, and it can occur occasionally or consistently.
Mechanical pain is another name for axial pain, which is caused by the muscles, joints, bones, and ligaments that surround the spine.
Because the symptoms normally go away after a while, there is usually no need to figure out what is causing the pain as long as you take the right precautions.
Tailbone Ache (Coccydynia)
Tailbone discomfort, also known as coccydynia, is another source of lower back pain when sitting. The coccyx, which is the bone structure at the bottom of the spine, is the source of this pain.
Direct trauma to the tailbone or poor posture is the most common cause of coccydynia. The discomfort is most noticeable when you sit, lean back in a chair, or lean against a wall and place weight on your tailbone.
Muscle Tension
It is also known as a lumbar sprain, albeit the two are not the same because both involve soft tissue and have nearly identical symptoms and treatments.
Muscle strain symptoms include a dull and aching low back discomfort that can be felt in a variety of actions and is greatly improved by resting or reclining with your legs elevated.
Poor posture, particularly slouching forward too far, is one of the causes of low back muscle tension, which affects the low back muscles and the spine.
Avoiding Back Pain
If you are wondering how to prevent back pain while sitting while working, gaming, or streaming, there are a few helpful back pain mitigation strategies you may employ to alleviate or entirely avoid the discomfort.
Ergonomically Designed Products
There are a variety of goods available to help you enhance your health and well-being while you are sitting, working, or gaming.
These ergonomic products are ideal for anyone who suffers from back pain when sitting. They make the items more user-friendly while also lowering the number of injuries.
Ergonomic Chairs
By supporting your natural posture and lowering the total stress that sitting has on your body, a decent ergonomic chair with adjustable armrests and back support can help you avoid back problems.
The backrest of the chair usually covers the entire length of your back, from shoulder to seat. A segment on the lower half of the backrest is likewise designed to mimic the natural curve of your spine.
This section of the chair is known as lumbar support since it supports your lumbar spine. This is something that FlexiSpot's BackSupport Office Chair BS8 can help you with.
Ergonomic gaming seats, on the other hand, provide the same, if not more, benefits as standard office ergonomic chairs.
They are known for their daring and strong designs, which feature bright colours and aesthetics. By default, many come with neck and hip cushions.
When it comes to noticeable features, though, many high-end gaming chairs have a remarkable range of adjustability on their armrests and other sections.
A properly built ergonomic gaming chair is a good option for streamers and gamers searching for a comfy ergonomic chair. They match the design of the gaming rig and provide a comfortable alternative for when their back suffers from sitting.
Ergonomic Workstations
Standing desks are referred to when people talk about ergonomic desks. You can easily modify the height of these desks to allow yourself to stand up and stretch while working, boosting your health and wellbeing.
Regular fixed height desks force you to modify the height of your chair to match the height of the desk, which does not always work out well. They also limit your activity because they only encourage one position for the amount of time you use it, which can lead to a terrible sitting posture being established.
Standing desks with adjustable heights allow you a lot of flexibility in your working and gaming positions. It enables people of various shapes and sizes to maintain proper posture, which helps to prevent certain health problems and, in turn, reduces back pain when sitting.
Changing your posture a couple of times a day allows you to stay focused and attentive when working or playing games. Standing desks also allow you to stay active while at work, preventing both upper and lower back strain that can occur when sitting.
Set Up Your Chair and Desk Properly
It is critical to modify the height of your desk and the features of your chair to ensure that you are as comfortable as possible. Getting an ergonomic chair and desk is merely the first step; they will not protect your back on their own.
If it is not properly adjusted, it can still create lower back pain when you sit. You may take a few measures to ensure that your chair is properly adjusted to accommodate your body and workstation.
1. Sit as close to the desk as you comfortably can
To avoid leaning into your monitor's display when working, streaming, or gaming, you must be in a naturally relaxed position.
Every object you use often should be within arm's reach, avoiding the need to extend out awkwardly to grasp it and so lowering the risk of straining a muscle or ligament.
2. Make sure your display is set to the proper resting eye level
The monitor's top should either match or be slightly above your neutral eyesight. You can use books to boost the display if it is too low.
When you have to incline your head while working, it might create back pain over time. This proclivity may force you to lean forward, which might cause upper back pain when you are sitting.
3. Adjust the height of your chair according to your stature by utilizing your knees as a guideline
The correct sitting height is when your feet are flat on the floor and your knees are at the same level as or slightly lower than your hips. Standing in front of the chair and adjusting the seat height till the highest point is just below your kneecap is another option.
If your arms are lower than the disk's surface, adjust the height of your chair till it is slightly higher. This step may be difficult if you are using a fixed-height workstation, as it may not fit your chair properly depending on your size and the size of your desk.
When you want to ensure that you can properly arrange your setup without stress, having a height-adjustable standing desk comes in handy. Check out the Adjustable Standing Desk Pro Series E6&E7 of FlexiSpot now!
Final Thoughts
It is entirely up to you to maintain a healthy posture with a properly set-up chair and workstation. If left unchecked, slouching forward, and slumping back both contribute to bad posture and cause lower back pain when you are seated.
Finally, if your back suffers when you sit, the best approach to treat it is to maintain excellent posture, because while ergonomic items make things easier for you, they do not force you to sit properly.
Even if you have good posture and use ergonomic furniture to prevent back pain, that does not imply you can sit for long periods. The biggest issue is staying motionless for too long, so when you are working, get up and stretch now and then.
It would be beneficial if you take advantage of every opportunity during work or a gaming break to do something completely different for a short time.
Finally, it is up to you to implement the suggestions and change some of your habits. This can help to lessen the stress on your back throughout your life and remember to stretch and maintain excellent posture.
