Sitting Down All Day Can Lead To The Following Problems

Sitting All Day Can Lead To Problems

There are a lot of people suffering from lower back pain these days. Many of these people work in office settings or spend the majority of their times in the sitting position. It has been suggested that this is not the best thing for your lower back. Our muscles and other tissues are affected in a negative way when we just sit at a desk or in a car. Cramped into a small space and not able to do a whole lot of physical activity causes our muscles to shorten and get tight.

But, it's not just our muscles. The entire body slows down because of the general lack of movement. This goes for systems such as the circulatory, digestive, and even our mental abilities. When we move, it helps increase all the fluid movements in our bodies. Not only fluids, but also solid materials like those that we eat are better digested when we move around. One reason for this is that our muscles help push all the fluids and solids through our systems. When this happens, our various organs are better able to digest, metabolize, process, etc. all of this "stuff" and we feel better.

Muscles Get Tight If They Never Get A Chance To Move

Another thing happens when we sit for prolonged periods of time. Our muscles get really tight. This has an indirect effect on all the things that I was mentioning so far in this article. Having tight muscles makes it difficult to move around when we actually get the chance to do so. You may know someone who has a difficult time walking for any distance. Back pain, knee pain, ankle pain and more are frequent results of having tight muscles.

A simple remedy for this last problem is starting a basic stretching program. When done correctly and consistently, this can help to relieve many aches and pains that come along with a sedentary life or work routine. Before actually starting a stretching program it's very important to have a good understanding of how to stretch your muscles efficiently and effectively.

Your body will respond more favorably to gentle prolonged stretching. This type usually lasts anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute in duration. You should be able to relax into the position and hold it for a period of time. Maintaining a calm breathing patterns with full respirations will also help your muscles relax and lengthen. When you focus on your breath rather than on the stretch, you less likely to "tighten up" and work against yourself.

Muscle Strains Can Lead To Lower Back Pain

Many people are unaware that many low back pain causes can be due to a number of muscles being in a shortened state. Prolonged sitting can cause your muscles to shorten. There are several lower back, pelvic, and lower extremity muscles that can contribute to these types of aches and pains.