As previously spoken in another blog post, sitting on the floor and working at the pc would be a better anatomical position than sitting on a chair.
Why does sitting on the floor work better than sitting on a chair?
Sitting on a chair is uncomfortable, especially in the long term.
As a massage therapist, most of my clients are people who have cervical pain or suffer from headaches.
Sitting at a desk for hours does more damage than you may realise.
So, let’s start with the lower body portion.
Staying seated on a chair does direct pressure on the thigh, and by doing so, muscles like the hamstring and gluteus muscles get compressed.
By compressing this group of muscles, they get weak and stop functioning as they should.
In addition, direct pressure is also applied to the sciatica nerve, the main nerve of the lower body portion.
The piriformis often compresses the Sciatica nerve. This muscle runs beneath the Gluteus Max and connects the medial portion of the sacrum to the greater trochanter of the femur.
So, the deactivation of those muscles would then manifest itself when we try to walk or, in any case, extend the leg.
As the “firing pattern” blog post shows, the hamstring and gluteus max muscles are crucial in leg extension and help prevent lower back pain.
This is what happens to the muscle part of the lower body portion.
But this is not the only issue the body faces with so many hours sitting on a chair.
There is more.
So sitting on a chair does limit the body’s movement.
The decline of the body’s movement creates a cascade of side effects, including mobility reduction in joints like the Hip, Ankle, Feet, and Thoracic.
As all those joints don’t move, there is also a diminish in the proprioception body/brain.
Another issue is the compensation of the stability joint over the mobility joint.
Indeed, when a mobility joint gets stiff, the stability joint above and below would try to compensate.
What’s a common finding pain-wise with sitting on a chair for long hours?
The prevalent finding is a sore neck.
The sore neck happens as the thoracic stuff up.
Indeed the lower cervical portion of the vertebrae, which are stability joints, try to compensate for the thoracic stiffness and, in the long term, would cause neck pain, shoulder pain and headaches.
Sitting on the floor can improve mobility.
Sitting on the floor can help improve your mobility by allowing you to move your body in many different ways without the need to stand up.
That movements are what your body needs as mobility exercises.
That movement is your body’s way of improving its posture.
Indeed, movement is a crucial component in pain prevention.
And this doesn’t happen on a chair.
How to switch habits?
As for all the habit changes, this has to be gradual and not radical.
So, start sitting on the floor for 1 hour a day.
Give yourself the time to adapt to the change.
Slowly you can incorporate more hours, but not in a row.
Maybe one hour in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Also, incorporate some standing time to sitting on the chair and floor.
Implement change, too, within your training.
You are doing something new, and your body needs to adapt.
As shown in this clip, start, start implementing a habit of sitting on the floor by doing step-by-step movements:
Step 1:
Move one leg forward, and bend down the other knee.
Step 2:
Bring both knees down
Step 3:
Swing the lower leg to the side (either Lx or Rx)
Step 4:
Let your body weight go, and sit down
Step 5:
Now let your lower leg come forward and sit cross-leg.
Step 6:
Do from step 5 to step 1 in reverse
By clicking here, and here you will find the links to a Thai Yoga exercise that can help a lot with improving hip mobility.