Dear Health Conscious Reader,
Do you get lower back pain from sitting in your office chair for hours on end?
Sitting for long periods can be a pain as you age. Long drives, bleacher seats at a football game or working at your computer can trigger back pain.
Ninety percent of Americans have some back pain at some time in their lives. It’s one of the first things I learned in my rehab studies during my residency in med school. In fact, back pain is the number two reason people visit the doctor, second only to upper-respiratory infections.
Stretching the right muscles is one of the best solutions for chronic back pain, especially if you have trouble sitting for long periods of time.
But you don’t need to spend an hour a day doing boring stretching exercises to be flexible or ease your nagging back. Today, I’ll show you an easy stretch for lower back pain, and I’ll tell you about a remarkable invention that’s helping thousands of people sit comfortably for long periods.
Losing flexibility as we age is the rule, especially if you never stretch. You make it worse if you sit at a desk all day. But some regular exercise and proper stretching can slow the decline.
An intelligent stretching regimen can prevent or even reverse stiffness and loss of range of motion. Done properly, these movements can ease your back pain and provide long-term relief. This solution is simple, pleasant and takes only a couple of minutes.
Here’s an easy one. To relieve lower back pain, stretch the front of your hips daily (or every other day).
- Hip Flexors: You need to do this stretch, particularly if you sit all day at work. Sitting all day puts pressure on the hip flexor muscles. This is a major cause of minor low back pain. Stretching your hip flexors muscles several times a week will prevent this kind of lower back pain. How To: Stand in a modified runner stance, with right foot forward and left foot back, feet flat on floor. Put your hands on your hips and keep your back and hips in straight alignment. Push forward with your hips, while maintaining your erect posture. Slowly, push your hips forward only until you feel a comfortable level of tension. Hold for a 10 count. Switch sides by reversing your leg stance and repeat.
If you have back pain and sit for long periods I have an excellent tool for you. It was invented by an office worker, Cathleen Woodall, who spends 8 hours a day sitting in front of a computer.
After years of lower back pain she created a portable seat that slopes from back to front, keeping your pelvis at the correct angle. The groove down the middle prevents impact on your spine and coccyx.
It has a layer of visco-elastic memory foam making it both supportive and comfortable.
It’s called the G-Seat. Here’s what people are saying about it:
“I like to do email on the weekend at my kitchen table. The GSeat allows me to work comfortably for hours, even while seated on an oak chair.” – J. Bloom, Ottumwa, IA
“I spend 9 to 12 hours a day sitting in front of a computer. And even though I have a nice ergo chair, it was not until I got my GSeat that I felt my sitting posture really improve. I no longer have that nagging lower back pain from sitting all day in a chair. Thanks to my GSeat, on my last trip to Arizona, a 7-hour drive, I did not experience the ‘rump fatigue’ I usually do.” – C. Watson, Orange County, CA
My friend Nan Kathryn Fuchs, PhD told me about the G-Seat and I want to pass it on to you.
I think it could be a real solution for back pain caused by long periods of sitting.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD