Back Pain From Sitting at a Desk in Brooklyn: What I Change First
Quick answer: if you get back pain from sitting at a desk, in Brooklyn or anywhere else, how you sit and how long you sit are the most likely contributors. You have two ways to improve: sit better, and sit less. This post shows you both, the way I teach them to clients in Williamsburg, and the way I fixed my own desk back pain.
You probably know the feeling. You start the day fine. By the afternoon you're squirming in your chair, twisting to crack your back, standing up to stretch and sitting back down because the work isn't done. Nothing seems to make it feel better, and you start to wonder if this is just what having a desk job feels like.
I know that feeling because it was my life. At my worst I sat 12 to 14 hours a day between work, school, the car and the couch, and I didn't know how to sit or stand well. My back hurt most when I was sitting. I worked a desk job for several years before I became a full time trainer, and learning to sit better and sit less was a big part of how I got out of pain.
Why does sitting at a desk make your back hurt?
Most seats are designed to make you slouch, so you end up sitting on your tailbone instead of your sit bones. That puts extra pressure on your spine and pushes your head forward, and your muscles have to work all day to hold you up.
Try this. Put one hand on your low back and the other on the back of your neck, then round forward. You'll feel those muscles get firm. Now lean back until they relax. That's the difference between your muscles holding you up and your bones being balanced.
Now think about holding that slouched position for eight hours, five days a week. I like to compare it to hitting your thumb with a hammer a thousand times. Eventually even the slightest touch hurts, because the area has become sensitive. Your back is the same. The first step is to stop hitting it with the hammer.
Sitting too much also tightens your hips. Your psoas muscle runs from your spine to your inner thigh. If you spend a lot of time sitting, it gets tight and pulls on your spine.
It took me years to find this out, because almost everyone around me sat the same way. Slouching was normal, so I was normal.
How do I know if sitting is causing my back pain?
Look for the pattern. When does it hurt, where are you, and what are you doing? If your back hurts after sitting, or you sit 10 or more hours a day and have back pain, how you sit is a likely contributor.
This is the same detective work I do with every new client: what makes it worse, what makes it better, and what connects your bad days. For me the answer was clear once I looked. My back bothered me most at work, at school, in the car and on the couch. Out with friends, I barely noticed it.
To find the cause, you usually don't need a scan. You need details: when, where and how it hurts. Scans can show things like bulging or worn discs in plenty of people who have no back pain at all (research on MRI scans of people without back pain).
If you have numbness, weakness, or pain after a fall, see a doctor first.
How should you sit at a desk to take pressure off your back?
Good sitting comes down to two things: set your hips, then be tall. Here's how I teach it.
Find your sit bones. Sit on your hands and feel for the two bony points at the bottom of your hips. Roll your hips forward until you're sitting on those points, not on your tailbone. Think of a happy dog wagging its tail: don't sit on your tail.
Set the seat height. Ideally your hips are just slightly above your knees, feet on the ground, legs slightly apart. If your chair is too low, sit on a wedge or tuck one or both feet under so your thighs slope down. (Chairs are usually too low for me, so I do this all the time.) If the seat is too high, put something under your feet.
Open your base. Let your legs open naturally and think about spreading your butt cheeks from side to side. It gives you a wider, more stable base, so your back holds less of the weight. Avoid crossing your legs; if you must, cross only your ankles.
Be tall from the back of your head. Reach the back of your head up, not your forehead, and keep your nose below your ears. The effort should be light, about 1 to 3 out of 10.
Set up your computer. Put your screen at eye level if you can, keep your shoulders back and down, and only rotate your palms down to type.
Good posture is balance, not force. You're stacking your bones so they hold you up, not forcing yourself straight. Hold the position for as long as it's easy. When you get bored, move.
If your chair has a back, you can also use it to lengthen your spine: sit all the way back, press down with your arms to get tall, and rest your mid back, just below your shoulder blades, against the seat. A rolled towel behind you makes this easier.
Here I walk you through it on video:
What should you do instead of sitting all day?
The best posture is variety. If you have to work at a computer for hours, find several positions you can hold and rotate through them, so your back isn't loaded the same way all day.
Here's what I did at my nine to five:
I set a timer to get up and move every hour.
I worked half kneeling at my desk with a cushion under my knee, switching legs, which stretches the hip flexors.
I knelt on a small cushion on the ground for part of the day.
I used a standing desk. Standing desks are great, but you can still slouch while standing, so stand with your feet wider than your hips, in a straddle or split squat stance, and change positions often.
I squatted while I waited for the train, and at home I spent more time on the ground and less time on the couch.
Once I learned to sit on my sit bones instead of my tailbone, sitting stopped being a problem for me. It wasn't an overnight change. It was a gradual process of learning the habits, stretches and training changes I needed.
What helps when your back already hurts at your desk?
When you start to feel discomfort, get out of the chair if you can: go for a walk, open your hips with a couch stretch, or hang from a bar to open your upper back.
The couch stretch is what I call the anti-sitting stretch, because it undoes the position you've been in all day. Put your back knee in a corner where the wall meets the floor, front foot flat on the ground in front of you. Lean forward first and stay there if it's intense. For a bigger stretch, come upright and squeeze your back glute. Hold for 1 to 2 minutes per side.
If you can't get up, breathe. Sit with a neutral spine, put your hands on your lower ribs, and breathe in so your ribs expand to the sides and into your back, not just your belly, then relax as you exhale. Then reach your arms overhead and breathe, or put your hands behind your head and lean back against your chair. Avoid yanking on one tight spot, like pulling your neck to the side. Isolated stretches like that tend to make tension worse. Feel your body move as one piece, from your hips to your head.
At home, spend at least 20 minutes on the floor, ideally before bed, in whatever position feels best: kneeling, half kneeling, on your side, on your stomach, or in a couch stretch. It releases tension, gets blood flowing to your joints and helps you sleep.
How I help desk workers in Williamsburg
If you're a person with back pain from sitting, or back pain when you work at a computer, this is exactly who I help. We start by finding the cause of your pain, not just chasing the spot that hurts.
In your first session we go through a full chronic pain review: when it hurts, where you are, what you're doing, and what makes it better or worse. Then we test how you move. Can you kneel on the ground? Can you do a couch stretch? Can you touch your toes? Can you stand on one leg? Tight hips and weak hips are the two most common causes I find, and your hips sit right below your low back.
Then we fix how you sit and work during the day, and build strength. A typical starting point is the single leg deadlift with support, the safest deadlift to start with, with one hand on a wall or bench, so the work stays in your leg and hip instead of your low back.
We train where it's easiest for you: at Chalk Gyms in Williamsburg, in McCarren Park, or in your building's gym.
You can start with a 60 minute Intro Session, in person in Williamsburg or online. Coaching runs 1, 2 or 3 times a week with in-person 60 minute sessions, a custom training program, a nutrition plan, my coaching app, unlimited messaging and weekly progress tracking.
Key takeaways
Back pain from sitting usually comes from how you sit and how long you sit. Sit better and sit less.
Sit on your sit bones, not your tailbone, with your hips slightly above your knees.
Be tall from the back of your head with light effort, about 1 to 3 out of 10.
The best posture is variety: rotate sitting, kneeling, half kneeling and standing, and get up every hour.
When it already hurts, walk, do a couch stretch, hang from a bar, or breathe into your ribs.
You usually don't need a scan to find the cause. See a doctor for numbness, weakness or pain after a fall.
Questions people ask
Is a standing desk enough to fix back pain from sitting?
It helps, but you can still slouch while standing. Stand with your feet wide, keep changing positions, and add kneeling and half kneeling to your day. Variety beats any single position.
Should I use a lumbar support pillow?
A lumbar support can make sitting feel better, but it doesn't teach you to hold good posture without it, and it can make you arch your low back too much. I prefer a cushion or rolled towel behind your mid back, and learning to sit on your sit bones.
Do I need an MRI or X-ray first?
To find the cause of back pain from sitting, you usually don't need a scan. You need details: when, where and how it hurts. If you have numbness, weakness, or pain after a fall, see a doctor.
How long does it take for sitting to stop hurting?
There's no set timeline. For me it was a gradual process of building body awareness and changing my habits, stretches and training. The first step is the same for everyone: stop hitting your back with the hammer by changing how you sit.
Start here
If you live or work in Williamsburg, Greenpoint or nearby Brooklyn and your back hurts at your desk, book your intro session on my in-person coaching page. We'll find the cause of your pain and make a plan together.
Not ready yet? Get my free Back Pain Relief Guide and start with the basics at home.
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-Tom
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