SNAPSHOT
Oh sitting, how you have crept into my day.
DIGGING DEEPER
During breakfast, traveling, desk work, waiting room, coffee with a friend, phone call, lunch, dinner, kids' swimming and soccer practices, and on the sofa, we sit, sit, sit. Look deeply at the normal physical routines of your day. Does sitting consume your body’s day?
Throw running into the equation, which relies heavily on the hamstrings, glutes, and core to move the body forward, and you have a combination for lower back pain.
The one semi-heavy object that you lifted that caused you to drop to the floor and live on the couch for a few days wasn't the culprit. It was weeks or months of strain and weakened muscles shouting, “I QUIT!”
Sitting with a ninety-degree bend in each of the hips and knees creates a strain on the hamstring and glutes. It also weakens the surrounding muscles since they go unused for many hours of the day. You can imagine and feel the damage of sitting.
I am not taking this battle sitting down and am seeking a healthy restful position to impact this world. This is my change list:
- Sit in the lotus position whenever possible
- Stand when on the computer
- Keep a straight back when sitting, with my shoulders on by back
- Stroll throughout my thinking and talking periods of the day
- Pilates class once a week
- No screen time after 8 pm
Recommended Book- Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World by Kelly Starrett
SOLUTION
Copy this list and stick it near your computer for a reminder of avenues to better physical health.