Our sitting position is very important for a healthy body as how we sit sometimes affects our health. Many of us spend time sitting in front of a computer screen for long hours.
A recent study is trying to change the way we position ourselves while sitting. Many of us were taught to sit up straight from early childhood.
However, researchers from Scotland and Canada, have found out that sitting up straight puts unnecessary strain on our backs.
Ideally, we are supposed to sit slightly at an angle of 135 degrees. A practical example was carried out by researchers at Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen, Scotland.
A novel form of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was used to examine 22 healthy volunteers to identify which positions are best and which are worst for our backs. The positional MRI machine allows the patient to move around during the examination.
The volunteers were asked to sit in three different positions:
Sloughing: The person hunches forward with feet touching the floor.
Upright: At 90 degrees with feet touching the floor.
Relaxed: Reclined backwards at 135 degrees with feet touching the floor.
Measurements of spinal angles and spinal disk height and movement were taken, and it was discovered that when undue strain is placed on a disk, it often moves out of place.
The researchers found that the upright position at 90 degrees caused the disk to move. While the most relaxed position was at 135 degrees because it caused the disks to move the least.
In other words, the upright position is the worst for the back while the relaxed position is the best.
The study leader Dr. Waseem Bashir from the University of Alberta Hospital Canada, said sitting in a sound anatomic position is essential since the strain put on the spine and it’s associated ligaments over time can lead to pain, deformity, and chronic illness.