Sitting is something we do so automatically that we rarely pay conscious attention to sitting properly. Do you want to know how to sit properly? Remember these three golden rules.
- Correct use of your chair, with the right settings. In practice, this means using the entire surface of your seat and making full contact with the back rest. That takes the burden off your neck and back muscles, avoiding tension. It is also important to set the height of your back rest, lower back support, seat height and arm rests correctly.
- Relaxed seated posture. Our intervertebral discs – that keep our spinal column supple – take most of the burden when we are sitting down. Our body posture plays an important role in reducing the burden on the intervertebral discs. Do this by leaning back regularly.
- Dynamic sitting. In other words: move around more. That sounds contradictory, but by deliberately interrupting periods of sitting, you will be doing yourself a favour and be less likely to suffer from back problems. Active sitting is the key to keeping your intervertebral discs healthy and supple! A good distribution of your time might be: 60% sitting down, 30% standing up and 10% deliberately moving around (stretching your legs, etc.).