Sitting

Sitting

Many people struggle using chairs, and it is no wonder, considering the amount of confusing information we are fed every day!

For years we have been told to ‘keep our backs straight’ and ‘keep our shoulders back’ etc only to find it hurts. Leaning back was definitely out. Now we are told by the latest research that the best angle for sitting is 135 degrees!

This is unlikely to make sitting in front of a computer easier, especially now that the same research also points out that good old 90 degree sitting puts the greatest pressure on our spines! (Read more about this here)

Using a chair - any chair - is actually very easy, if you can distinguish between three things - elevated sitting, oppressed sitting and leaning or lying.

Sitting ≠ leaning or lying

Problems arise when we refer to every way of using a chair or seat as ‘sitting’. When leaning back in a chair and perching on the edge of a chair are both termed ‘sitting’, it becomes very difficult if not impossible to define ‘good sitting’.

In Power Ergonomics we first distinguish between sitting and lying or leaning. Leaning or lying means using the backrest on a chair (and/or armrests) and sitting means not using these supports (so the body has to hold itself up).

Leaning or lying is actually fine

The only thing that dictates whether or not you should lean or lie is the situation. Leaning back or ‘lounging’ in your chair works well when talking on the phone but may be too ‘laid back’ in a job interview.

Also it may or may not be harder to operate a control panel, a keyboard or controls when leaning back - it all depends on the angles and distances involved as well as how much you need to be able to apply force through your arms and hands.

Try leaning your car seat as far back as possible and you will see that there is a limit to what works in terms of reaching the controls.

Sitting and leaning/lying are functionally very different

When you lean back in a chair or lie in one, you delegate the task of supporting the upper body to the chair. This is why it is so restful to lean back or lie in a chair.
When you sit, you use the seat of the chair only, and so your body has to support itself. Either it works correctly, in which case it will hold itself up with ease and it will be easy to remain seated, or it works incorrectly, in which case remaining seated will quickly become difficult as the upper body ‘gives up’ trying to hold itself up and instead starts to collapse.

Elevated sitting

Elevated sitting occurs when you are seated on your legs, with your upper body weight just in front of your sitting bones. This is the same balance point you choose to sit comfortably on a fence or rail (try it sometime).

When you sit over the beginning of your legs, anterior to your sitting bones, the weight of your torso falls forwards into the front of the pelvis or lower abdomen. The spine moves into a natural ‘flattened S’ curve and the shoulders float lightly over the ribcage.

Positioning yourself like this elevates the body naturally. You don’t have to make effort to ‘pull yourself up’ or ‘keep your back straight’, because the body is pushed up automatically. The shoulders don’t have to be pulled back because rounded shoulders occur only when the torso collapses as a result of oppressed use.

If you apply MUBA testing to elevated sitting you find it is extremely solid, comfortable and restful. Many people discover for the first time that they can sit completely still and tranquil for 10-15 minutes or more. Some even say that it is so comfortable that they often cannot find any reason to change their posture.

Oppressed sitting

Oppressed sitting occurs when you sit with your upper body weight on your sitting bones or behind them.

In this position the weight of the upper body is shifted backwards towards the back of the pelvis, causing the curve in the lumbar region of the back (lordosis) to straighten.

This weakens the support in the front of the torso, which is why the spine as a whole starts to round into a ‘C’ curve, the shoulders start to fall forwards and downwards into yet another ‘C’, and the head thrusts forwards causing tension to build up in the neck, shoulders and upper back.

The end result is postural oppression - a body that weighs down on itself, blocking not only the transfer of power throughout the musculoskeletal system but also other vital functions such as breathing. Try sitting like the girl in the picture above and then take a deep breath - if you can!

Straightening the back and pulling the shoulders back does not cure us from oppressed sitting, as the tendency for the body to collapse onto itself arises from the initial position over the sitting bones or behind them. People have been trying to correct their postures using this kind of thinking for years and what is the result? Better sitting? No. Just more discomfort and a plethora of ‘ergonomic’ chairs.

Sitting elevated - how to do it

Shuffle forwards on your chair so that you create some space between your back and the back rest of the chair
Shift your body weight back and forth until you can feel that you are sitting on your sitting bones (the hard protrusions in each buttock)
Now tipping from your sitting bones, move your whole torso forwards slowly until you feel the pressure on your sitting bones ease off slightly.

If you do this correctly (there is room for error, see below) you should feel a slight increase in pressure between the under side of your thighs and the seat of the chair. You may also notice a slight increase in the curve in your lower back. Whatever you do DO NOT accentuate this curve consciously! Just focus on shifting your body weight and let your body do the rest (learning what NOT to do is also very important).

What should you do with your legs? Experts tell us to keep them bent at 90 degrees (there must be a cult for 90 degree thinkers!). But the truth is you can put them wherever it feels most comfortable. Many find, for example, that folding them under the chair is very comfortable.

Watch out for...

Some people find it hard to achieve elevated sitting, usually for the following reasons:

they fail to shift their body weight onto their legs because the correct position feels too far forwards, so they stop before they go ‘too far’.
they shift their body weight over the legs but fail to allow the whole body to move in unison. The end result is the lower part of the torso moves forwards while the head is kept back; this causes increased tension and pressure as the curve of the lower back is forcefully exaggerated.
they hold the body back in oppressed use by continuing to ‘straighten their backs’ without realising that they are doing so - because it is a lifetime’s habit.
they accentuate the curve in the lower back consciously, often because someone taught them to do this.

MUBA testing usually helps eliminate all of these ‘errors’ very quickly.

One small problem remains...

The problem with elevated sitting is that it does not match the current theory, which states that IF you align you spine correctly (using a plumb line, or by ‘straightening’ your back, etc) and see that your body is balanced over your sitting bones (because they are after all called ‘sitting bones’), THEN your body will be held up naturally.

Unfortunately, MUBA testing shows this theory to be false. If you try to sit like this (correctly aligned etc), you will find with MUBA that you are less stable and that carrying any weight above the body becomes quite difficult. Even without MUBA you will conclude - if you have not already done so - that this theory of sitting is questionable, just by the fact that so many people abandon it. This would not be the case if it really worked...

Summary

Sitting made easy = sit elevated or lean back/lie in a chair, depending on the situation and requirements = avoid oppressed sitting so you don’t have to put in the extra effort that is required to ‘keep your back straight’, ‘shoulders pulled back’, etc.

Now, relax and enjoy!