I’m fortunate to have my own office. Periodically throughout the day I do pushups, squats, lunges, sit-ups/crunches/planks, etc., pull-ups and chin-ups. I keep a couple of light weights in my office along with elastic bands, foam roller, and an ab wheel. Not all-out sweating, but moving and stretching type exercises. I use my full lunch hour, 95% of the time, and will walk across town to eat.
And because of how much time I spend on the computer, my weekends are almost always filled with activity. I nearly can’t help myself come Saturday morning to get outside or just be busy with real activity and interaction. And I love football, but the past 4 or 5 seasons I maybe watch a couple of games (excluding the post season) because the last thing I want to do on Sunday is look at yet another screen for hours…and god forbid I’m around people who play fantasy and are glued to their laptops.
So, in other words, make the most of it and make up for it and you won’t be another office hamster.
[quote]1 Man Island wrote:
I do most of my work in a lounging position[/quote]
I was reading yesterday that while the standard upright seated position can lead to Anterior Pelvic Tilt, a lounging or slouched position can lead to Posterior Pelvic Tilt, which seems to have comparably bad implications on low back health over the long term.
Since I had my own office, and now work at home, much of my work is done in a fairly relaxed position anyway. I know when I switched my focus from “leaning forward” to “leaning back” while in a chair, and started keeping my shoulders retracted, I felt a lot better.
I’ve spent the last decade in the midwest where you drive everywhere, and a lot of my work and leisure time seated, so about the only time I spent on my feet was at the gym. I walk around a bit, but it’s still been almost completely sedentary.
Squatting, pulling and lots of shoulder retraction and thoracic mobility work has generally helped.
It’s uncomfortable to me to stand for more than a couple minutes. I’d rather be pacing around than standing in one place, but I think that’s a different issue.
EDIT: also, I’ve had good, highly adjustable office chairs, and that’s probably helped a lot, the Herman Miller Aeron and Steelcase Criterion. A good chair will let you move around a bit and it will move with you and adapt as you change position.
stretches, foam rolling, tennis ball in the hip flexors, squats, DL & (yes, I do these) weighted hip thrusts.
back exercises for posture, and (very important) reverse flys - this builds up the backside of the delts, and helps to pull your shoulders back for proper posture.
but, while at the office, I sit all day, slouch in my chair, and my keyboard is not ergonomic -
[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
Just got a standing desk at work to avoid all this. [/quote]
This. I’m fortunate with my employer and have both a standing and sitting desk. I have a wall mounted monitor over a drafting table for when I want to stand and sit at my desk when I don’t want to.
I’ve found as I age I find it more and more difficult to sit for extended periods of time. I will often skip theatre movies for this reason. It kills my lower back.
I also do glute activation exercises sitting on the edge of my desk that my ART suggested.
Now, the thing with drinking an about of water to the point of having to get up to piss all the time is not something I would necessarily like to do because I do not want to miss much from lecture.
But, everyday I do park on the top floor of our parking garage and walk the 9 flights up and down each day. After a long day, walking up those, sometimes two at a time starts to feel pretty good. I also tried doing some foam rolling after class, but seeing as the pain is in the joints it didn’t really do much, although it seemed to do a little bit on the IT band.
So, besides sprinting, squatting, pulling, cleaning and pressing. Is there anything else I should be doing week in and week out to hopefully try to help the pain?
Note: For probably over a year now I hit the upper back some way every session, so that hopefully will not be an issue.
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
Ten to fourteen hours a day in a chair looking at computer screens for 8 years. Breakfast and lunch are at my desk.
Unfortunately, you get used to it. Your glutes will turn off, your hip flexors will become hypertonic and shortened, your TA and RA will atrophy and your erectors will be under constant, low level tension. After a few years of this, they will become so fatigued that they will spasm at any time, for any reason. Bumping in to a table or sneezing can be enough to put you in bed for 3 days. Vicodin and flexoral become your best friends.
As your abdominal muscles atrophy, you develop thoracic kyphosis and “forward head” posture. At some point, your soft tissue will actually remodel and this posture will become irreversible.
Any other questions?
[/quote]
How much of this was embellished?
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
Ten to fourteen hours a day in a chair looking at computer screens for 8 years. Breakfast and lunch are at my desk.
Unfortunately, you get used to it. Your glutes will turn off, your hip flexors will become hypertonic and shortened, your TA and RA will atrophy and your erectors will be under constant, low level tension. After a few years of this, they will become so fatigued that they will spasm at any time, for any reason. Bumping in to a table or sneezing can be enough to put you in bed for 3 days. Vicodin and flexoral become your best friends.
As your abdominal muscles atrophy, you develop thoracic kyphosis and “forward head” posture. At some point, your soft tissue will actually remodel and this posture will become irreversible.
Any other questions?
[/quote]
How much of this was embellished?[/quote]
Looking around my office… Not much.
I get paid enough to work around the fact I sit all the time.
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
Ten to fourteen hours a day in a chair looking at computer screens for 8 years. Breakfast and lunch are at my desk.
Unfortunately, you get used to it. Your glutes will turn off, your hip flexors will become hypertonic and shortened, your TA and RA will atrophy and your erectors will be under constant, low level tension. After a few years of this, they will become so fatigued that they will spasm at any time, for any reason. Bumping in to a table or sneezing can be enough to put you in bed for 3 days. Vicodin and flexoral become your best friends.
As your abdominal muscles atrophy, you develop thoracic kyphosis and “forward head” posture. At some point, your soft tissue will actually remodel and this posture will become irreversible.
Any other questions?
[/quote]
How much of this was embellished?[/quote]
The “bumping into a table part”.
My back actually seized when I walked through a doorway and unexpectedly grazed the door knob. It was on July 15 last year; I know this because I just looked at the date on my bottle of Vicodin.
As far as the low back is concerned there isn’t a “proper” sitting position. The best way to sit is to assume a constantly changing posture to distribute the stress on the tissues throughout the body. Throw you feet up for 15 minutes, recline for 15 minutes, lean forward for 15, cross legged for 15, etc, etc. This won’t allow creep to set in. Always avoid the creep.
[quote]Young33 wrote:
But, what did you do to try to mitigate the effects? or what would you recommend to do?[/quote]
Most drastic was to give up benching and back squatting. Benching contributed to tightness across my chest and worsened the “hunched-over” effect and back squatting crushed my lower back. I replaced benching with the OHP and the BS with the front squat.
I foam roll 3-4x a day and do a ton of pre-hab and mobility drills. Basically anything you’ve read on this site for mobility I do or have done at some point. Pigeon pose, YTWLs, bird dogs, dead bugs, a ton of face pulls, a ton of rows, band pull aparts, hamstring stretches, glute activation drills, Pallof presses and other anti-rotation work, planks, stability ball work, etc ad nauseum.
Just recently, I think I’ve stumbled onto something great (for me) and that’s strongman training. Bosu and stability ball stuff bored the hell out of me, but farmer’s walk, suitcase carries, waiter carries, and yoke walk are turning out to be excellent work for my back. A farmer’s walk is basically a loaded, perambulating plank albeit with spinal compression.
One excercise I use to keep my posture in great shape:
Load up a trap bar with about 50% of your 1 RM. Then in the locked out position squeeze your shoulder blades back and down, move your neck and head back so that you’re posture is in proper alignment and hold for 5 seconds. Do this for reps of 5 before putting the bar down.
My last job entailed lots and lots of sitting. If I didn’t squat or DL 2x/week my glutes and hips would be aching as it seemed like they were screaming at me to use them. The current position allows me to option to move around substanitally more with about 75/25 sitting/standing.
Pangloss, is this true? As your abdominal muscles atrophy, you develop thoracic kyphosis and “forward head” posture. At some point, your soft tissue will actually remodel and this posture will become irreversible.
I’ve been fighting lately to regain my neutral head posture as I find in all the pictures I seem to take that I have slumped shoulders and a head that is noticeably forward in relation to neutral. I absolutely hate it.
[quote]carbiduis wrote:
I’d say that as long as you are aware of the problems that come from sitting, you’ll naturally prevent and take care of your body and you’ll be fine.
After 2 yrs, I don’t see the issue, just get up and walk around like everyone has said.
I have also found it beneficial to lift before work (wake up at 4:15am) I am usually fine with sitting by the time i get there lol.
Aren’t standing desks super expensive? [/quote]
They’re not really expensive at all, especially compared to the prices of ergonomic chairs, mouses/mousepads, braces, etc. When you consider that low back pain alone costs businesses in the US billions of dollars a year in workers comp, disability, and missed work it’s a worthwhile investment on their part. Many provide them on request and if not a doctor’s recommendation will usually do the trick. The sit to stand models are really nice.
[quote]Young33 wrote:
But, what did you do to try to mitigate the effects? or what would you recommend to do?[/quote]
Most drastic was to give up benching and back squatting. Benching contributed to tightness across my chest and worsened the “hunched-over” effect and back squatting crushed my lower back. I replaced benching with the OHP and the BS with the front squat.
I foam roll 3-4x a day and do a ton of pre-hab and mobility drills. Basically anything you’ve read on this site for mobility I do or have done at some point. Pigeon pose, YTWLs, bird dogs, dead bugs, a ton of face pulls, a ton of rows, band pull aparts, hamstring stretches, glute activation drills, Pallof presses and other anti-rotation work, planks, stability ball work, etc ad nauseum.
Just recently, I think I’ve stumbled onto something great (for me) and that’s strongman training. Bosu and stability ball stuff bored the hell out of me, but farmer’s walk, suitcase carries, waiter carries, and yoke walk are turning out to be excellent work for my back. A farmer’s walk is basically a loaded, perambulating plank albeit with spinal compression.
[/quote]
jesus Pangy, was that a typo or do you really foam roll 4 times a day?
As a follow up, since I worked with a few spinal surgeons lately, the ideal head position is found by looking straight up, keeping your neck in that position, but dropping your chin. You will almost feel like you are giving yourself a double-chin. I try and remember to do that when I feel the need to reasses my body position.
Ironically, the spinal surgeons themselves have developed terrible cervical symptoms since all their time is spent staring down while they work on their patients.