Sitting for long periods of time is bad okaaaay

My husband started working from home during lockdown. The first 9 weeks he was sitting on a low sofa bed in the spare room. It was the only place he could work without being interrupted by our children. His screen was sitting on a chair, with his laptop on his lap (I know, they are called laptops because you can put them on your lap, but really not great for more than an hour). Now he is a very tall man, so this was not an ideal position for him to be working eight hours a day. A pattern developed, he began experiencing shoulder, neck and back pain.

Three years on and he is still working from home, however thankfully he has now migrated to a proper desk and chair. He no longer looks like a praying mantis working on a laptop. So have all his muscular pain should have gone away now that he has an ergonomic work station....um...no, it hasn't. It's migrated to his knee in a serious way causing a whole chain reaction of problems. I soon realised that whilst his work station was now more appropriate, he spends his days on back to back phone calls with rarely a break in-between. This means sitting on his bottom for hours on end.

My husband is not unique. I have noticed since the lockdowns an increase in the number of clients presenting the same set of chronic pain patterns. Knees, neck, arms, shoulders, low back. I have also noticed these people have one thing in common. They are spending more time, like my husband, sitting in one position on back to back calls without taking breaks in-between.

People are no longer moving from meeting room to meeting room. Meeting times used to have to factor in people moving from one meeting room to another, now in our age of video & teleconferencing, we can do back to back meetings. One simply presses the end button, then dials in the next number or clicks the next meeting link. And we haven't moved.......for hours.

News flash!!!!!!!!

Our bodies do not like sitting in the same position for hours on end with limited movement.

Our bodies are designed to spend most of their time upright and moving. Sitting for long periods of time interferes with your body's basic functions, basic...but important, you know things like breathing, moving blood around your body, digestion, removing waste products, things like that. Your metabolism slows down, muscle wastage occurs, you lose strength and flexibility. Blood circulation to the muscles reduces, your muscles receive less oxygen and waste product builds up causing inflammation.

The shape of your muscles also change. Some muscles, like your hip flexors, become short and tight. Others become long and weak, it all depends on your posture while you sit. The dreaded hunch. Slumped over your keyboard, slouching to read your screen. Wrists typing on keyboards at unnatural angles. In my mind I can hear your levator scapulas' scream with pain, desperately pulling against gravity to keep your head upright (did you know your head is the heaviest part of your body to keep upright thanks to gravity, it's also due to the amount of blood, bone & imagination contained within).

I think of your rhomboids valiantly working to pull your shoulders back whilst your pecs effectively take a holiday, letting the rhomboids bear the load of keeping you upright. And then there are the poor old quadratus lumbrorum, glutei and piriformis. Your lower back and bum muscles. Sitting on them all day really does not do them any good. When sitting the piriformis presses on the sciatic nerve, sending wonderful nerve pain down the back of your leg. Did you know the majority of low back pain is actually caused by a tight quadratus lumbrorum (QL), the very strong muscle that sits between your last rib, lower spine and iliac crest (the curved bit of your hip bone). I could go on but I think you get the picture.

Sitting for long periods of time is bad okaaaay.

I cannot stress enough the importance of taking regular breaks from your work station and moving your body. 2 or 3 stretches each break will help at least once an hour.

Here are my top 5 suggestions:

1. Open up the chest, anything that pulls your shoulders backwards. it gives your hardworking rhomboids a rest and makes your pecs take up some of the work.

2. Spinal twists, get twisty. Opposite hip and shoulder moving in opposite directions. This stretches your QL, erector spinae (the big long muscle either side of your spine) and the lattimus dorsi.

3. Arms to the sky. This action stretches muscles in your shoulder rotator cuff and again involves your pecs. While your arms are up there give your wrists a twirl. A bit of forward/backward action won't do them any harm.

4. Rotate your neck. Tilt your neck to the left and then to the right. Take your nose towards your armpit, lift your chin to the sky. These movements encourage all your neck muscles to stretch and it feels glorious.

5. Knees to your chest. You can do this lying down or standing. You can bring your chest to your knees in a forward bend, or bring your knee/s to your chest. The yoga positions of child's pose is good for this. This type of stretch is good for your lower back and your glutei. Feeling adventurous, try the opposite knee to shoulder.

Most importantly.........STAND UP & WALK AROUND!!!

Get the blood and lymph moving, give your sciatiac nerve a break and your lungs and digestive system room to move and do their thing.

Top tip: hold all your stretches for at least 30 seconds (and I mean a real 30 seconds, one potato, two potato, three potato...). It takes at least that long to get any real benefit from stretching.