My lower back pain caused by sitting was very difficult for me to figure out. It’s not like we’re really using our lower back when we’re sitting at a computer for long periods of time. We’re not carrying a heavy load. We’re not subject to a hard fall or impact. So, we’re not even absorbing soft and repetitive impact, like when running. These are all typical situations where a lower back injury is common.
But there is often a cause/effect relationship when troubleshooting sitting-related injuries. In this case, lower back pain is the poor posture effect. But the cause is located in other areas of the body.
This article is not professional medical advice. It’s based off my personal experience and opinions. Years of poor computer posture used caused chronic lower back pain for me. All the ergonomic tips I write about are directly related to improving your posture at a computer. Do your research. Make good decisions. And be the best advocate possible for your own healthcare.
Why does sitting cause lower back pain?
Muscles are connected to tendons. Tendons then connect to bone. A common prolonged sitting risk is muscle tension. But a tight muscle always pulls on a tendon. This eventually overextends the tendon and creates pain (commonly known as tendonitis).
We could treat the tendon, but it would likely be temporary relief. Because even if we heal that pain, we still have to go back to our computer the next day and sit in that same compromised position for long periods of time. The muscle will just continue to get tighter, pulling on the tendon all over again. Instead of treating the tendon directly, I focus on healing the muscle. I also focus on correcting the poor posture position that caused the tight, overused muscle.
In my opinion, lower back pain starts when we reach our hands forward to grab the keyboard and mouse. Then, we actively use the muscles in our hands and arms 8 hours a day. We click and type thousands of times a day. This is a textbook example of repetitive strain and overuse injuries. Next, our arm muscles are so tight that they pull on tendons connecting the biceps with bone in the shoulder area.
The next part of this poor posture chain is our internal shoulder rotation. The shoulder area on the front of the body is a large intersection for many tendons. The more tendinous an area is, the more likely it’s going to hurt when it’s overused.
Once we have excessive internal shoulder rotation from our poor sitting posture, the muscle tension chain continues right over our shoulders and into our upper back muscles. The back muscles in our lower backs are pulled from our upper backs. Our lower back is the end of the rope. It’s our last line of defense from slouching forward at a computer. Our lower back is also the most tendinous part of our back. So it’s where we’re most likely to feel pain and tendonitis. This lower back pain is the effect of slouching forward at your desk. The cause is an extensive chain of muscles and tendons that pull on each other when we overuse our arms, compress our internal shoulder rotation, and overextend our back muscles.
Sitting and spinal pressure
Overusing my arms would cause me to naturally slouch forward. This puts a lot of compression on the anterior (front) side of the spine. At the same time, the posterior (rear) side of the spine gets overextended. This is another cause/effect relationship example of sitting-related injuries. When I find myself slouching forward, the vertebrae in my lower back tend to have more spinal pressure than any vertebrae in my mid or upper back. This is likely because the lower the vertebra, the more weight of my torso, head, and arms it supports.
Take a look at the picture above. When in this correct posture position, all the vertebrae are evenly spaced out in a neutral manner. When slouching forward with poor posture, that’s when spinal pressure becomes a prolonged sitting risk. the discs between vertebrae get compressed on the anterior side of the spine. At the same time, the same discs are being overextended of the posterior side of the spine. Slouching forward is the cause of the issue. The effect is spinal pressure, dysfunction, lower back pain.
Back pain prevention: Lumbar support
I’m a big fan of using lumbar support for workplace health. But it doesn’t do much work in correcting back muscle strain. I only use it as a guide to check in with. If I’m not using the lumbar support correctly, I know that I need to make an adjustment to my sitting posture. I need to do the work. The lumbar support cushion is only a supplement that helps increase my body awareness. I need to stop slouching forward. I also take some pressure off my internal shoulder rotation. So, I do this by relaxing more and setting my shoulders back slightly.
How to heal lower back pain from sitting posture
Now that you understand why lower back pain from computer use occurs, you’re ready to take the next step to improve your posture. Click here to check out my article titled, 5 Ways to Relieve Lower Back Pain.
Thanks for your interest in sitting posture.
If you’ve read this far, congratulations! You’re taking valuable steps to reduce lower back pain and improve your computer posture. That’s something to be very proud of!
If you liked this article on how sitting causes lower back pain, check out my free ebook titled 3 Ways to Improve Computer Posture Immediately!
>>> Click here to download your free copy
This ebook is a great supplement to the article you just read. In this ebook, you’ll learn 3 of the most painful, poor computer posture mistakes. Then, you’ll learn how to fix those mistakes immediately with 3 simple changes to your ergonomic computer desk setup.
Go to SittingPosture.com/ebook to learn more.
Take care,
Todd Bowen