Workplace Fitness: Do you have a "sitting" disorder?

If you work in an office at a desk or spend time sitting for extended periods of time at your job you might be overlooking the importance of one of the major influences on your health: how you sit. I don't know that there's really any such thing as a "sitting disorder," (well, I'm sure there is somewhere) but the idea really is that so many Americans (me included) spend so much time in front of desks and computers that the importance of doing it correctly becomes paramount to our wellbeing and our health. It seems like something so simple and straightforward that it's almost a "given" that everybody knows how to sit, but how many of us end up with achy backs and sore necks on a regular basis? Something isn't right.

Sitting for long periods can lead to all kinds of health problems -- so many it's impossible to name them all. But sitting badly, or improperly, can do even more serious health damage. Of course proper posture is important, and setting up your desk area as ergonomically as possible is also, but what about your chair? The actual design and functionality of the chair you sit on every day? Often overlooked, the chair you use has a major impact on how you sit, whether you realize it or not. So making an effort to sit correctly in part means paying attention and making necessary adjustments to your office chair.

Although many companies don't spend large amounts of money on fancy adjustable chairs for their staff (if yours does count yourself lucky) most seats are adjustable in basic ways. Take a look at these tips for finding the best possible chair positions using specific body and chair measurements. But even a perfect chair can't solve all your sitting problems, only you have control over how you hold your body. Amazingly, the sitting position is naturally more straining on your back than standing is -- so it becomes that much more important to do it right in order to avoid back pain (which way too many of us have anyway without making it worse for ourselves).

So maybe, if you're sitting in your chair at work right now or when you go in tomorrow morning, you'll pay extra attention to just how you're sitting -- and what you're sitting in.