Don't sit up straight

[Whitney]

I always told my mom that sitting up perfectly straight caused my back to hurt more...new studies are there to back me up.

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology ... tting.html

The longstanding advice to "sit up straight" has been turned on its head by a new study that suggests leaning back is a much better posture.

Researchers analyzed different postures and concluded that the strain of sitting upright for long hours is a perpetrator of chronic back problems.

Using a new form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), researchers studied 22 volunteers with no back pain history. The subjects assumed three different positions: slouching; sitting up straight at 90 degrees; and sitting back with a 135-degree postureâ€"all while their spines were scanned.  

"A 135-degree body-thigh sitting posture was demonstrated to be the best biomechanical sitting position, as opposed to a 90-degree posture, which most people consider normal," said study author, Waseem Amir Bashir, a researcher at the University of Alberta Hospital in Canada. "Sitting in a sound anatomic position is essential, since the strain put on the spine and its associated ligaments over time can lead to pain, deformity and chronic illness."

Back pain, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, is the most common cause of work-related disability in the United States. It costs Americans nearly $50 billion annually. Sitting appears to be a major cause of this ailment.

"We were not created to sit down for long hours, but somehow modern life requires the vast majority of the global population to work in a seated position," Bashir said. "This made our search for the optimal sitting position all the more important."

When strain is placed on the spine, the spinal disks start to move and misalign. At a 90-degree sitting position, this movement was most prominent. The disks were least moved when subjects were sitting back at a 135-degree sitting position.

"We have to do something that is similar to the lying position," Bashir told LiveScience. Lying down in a relaxed position with your knees slightly bent is the best position that a person can be in, because it doesn't cause any stress on the ligaments, the thigh muscles as well as on the back.

Sitting on a chair that provides proper support, such as a slightly tilted back car seat, can mimic the relaxed supine position. Slouching caused a reduction in the spinal height which means that there was high rate of wear and tear in the lowest two spinal levels.

[donkeyhoty]

I see this as a conspiracy to get us to buy new chairs, which will soon be in stores.

But seriously, to sit at 135 everything will need redesign or retrofitting, chairs, desks, monitors that hang from the ceiling.  It'll be like working in space.  Sweet.

[McQ]

I want a chair that helps me slump forward over my desk to make sleeping at it easier.

[Whitney]

I would like a chair that allows me to lay down while still easily being able to reach and see a computer.

[Tom62]

I would like to have a massage chair with a six-pack holder

[McQ]

I would like to have a massage chair with a six-pack holder

Now That's a chair!  

Reminds me of the episode of "Friends" with the super recliners. All they needed was a hole in the seat cushion for "relief" and they would have been the perfect chairs.

[Big Mac]

I want Jabba the Hutt's throne complete with a brunette in a skimpy costume chained to it. That and a gay british robot that could translate shit for me.

[Sophia]

That picture just doesn't look comfortable at all. Seems like while the back might feel better, the neck would hurt..

[take2gemini]

so now I can tell my teachers to screw off....haha, not really, but still. It always has hurt my back more to sit up straight.  I'm a bit of a slouchy personality x]

[cantthinkofaname]

I see this is an excellent way to keep the public unaware of just how much damage company chairs are doing to their employees.  A lot of corporations already have these type of chairs and damage done to their employees has to be kept quiet.  Don't let the public know or the lawsuits will follow.  What better way than to put it on the internet to make the public think they are being well informed.  

Never completely trust what you read on the internet.  I have disc bulge or commonly called a slipped disc.  I was told never trust a site that has .com because it only means anyone could have put it on the internet.  Look for .org or .net they are more like to be trustworthy.    People who slump will eventually get a hump on base of their neck and over time bend over causing more damage.  You can lean back a little but never allow the shoulders or neck lean over downward.  Never constantly turn your head in one main direction over a period ot itme, that is to say set your work station up so you look at your monitor straight ahead not the the side, keep the keyboard in front of the monitor so when looking at it you only need to look up not to your side.  I now have to go to physical therapy and exercises, which are painful, for my neck or be stupid and let it become herniated and need surgery.  Most couches, loveseats, recliners tend to bend with a curve from the shoulder to bottome of spine and that causes people to bend over when standing over time.

[a_jaynepayne]

I see this as a conspiracy to get us to buy new chairs, which will soon be in stores.

But seriously, to sit at 135 everything will need redesign or retrofitting, chairs, desks, monitors that hang from the ceiling.  It'll be like working in space.  Sweet.

UR right...that would be sweet.