How to Treat Your Back Pain When Sitting All Day

Office workers, programmers, and even gamers develop back pain when sitting because they sit on chairs that don’t support their backs. However, since back pain is common worldwide, many people ignore how dangerous it can get if you don’t treat it.  

Speaking about office workers, keeping up with their daily schedule while suffering from back pain can reduce their productivity, creativity, and work quality. Working is already stressful for many people, so you don’t need things that make it a worse experience.   

If you are suffering from lower back pain when sitting, this is the page for you. Read on to learn how to treat back pain. The tools we give you in this article don’t include sitting for less time since we understand you may not be able to stop working until you are fully recovered.  

However, following the tips given on this page make sitting a more comfortable and enjoyable experience, so don’t hesitate to try them!  

What Causes Back Pain?

Many things can cause low-back pain after sitting, and although the most common reason for this issue is adopting a bad posture, you should check if you are not suffering from any of the other causes to keep further problems from happening.  

Why should you do that? Well, if it’s only a posture problem, you may be good to go after you buy a stand-up desk and an ergonomic office chair to correct your posture. However, more severe health issues, such as degenerative disc disease, need you to get medical treatment.

If your lower back hurts when sitting, one of these problems may be the reason for it: 

Bad Posture

As mentioned before, sitting while having a bad posture is one of the main causes of back and neck pain, so it might be the reason your back hurts. You know you have a bad posture if you often slouch while sitting or stay hunched. Doing this applies extra pressure on your discs, which can make you get a herniated disc.  

Fortunately, people suffering from lower back pain while sitting can easily address this situation if it hasn’t progressed to a more severe state. Correcting your posture is not that difficult with help, so we recommend you get ergonomic products, such as an automatic standing desk or even lumbar pillows for your chair to reduce back pain.  

Unhealthy Shape

Not being in a healthy shape can cause back pain when sitting, so you should keep an eye on your shape to keep this problem from happening. This doesn’t mean you have to get a gym body to prevent back pain, but being extremely overweight weakens your core muscles, which makes them unable to support your spine properly. 

You can strengthen your core by performing aerobic exercises daily, so do that to reduce back strain if you are out of shape.

Sciatica

As its name suggests, Sciatica consists of pain that goes through the sciatic nerve, which goes from your lower back through your hips, buttocks, and down your legs. You should see a doctor if you think this is your problem, but you may notice you got Sciatica if you suffer from dull pain that feels like an electric shock.  

What gives you Sciatica? It happens when you get excessive pressure on your sciatic nerve, which mostly comes from a herniated disc or one of your bones overgrowing.  

The best sitting position for sciatica is staying upright with your feet planted on the floor. Make sure to keep your back straight since that relieves pressure on your sciatic nerves and reduces pain. Buying an ergonomic chair for back pain can help you adopt the exact position we are talking about.   

Herniated Disc

People with a herniated disc often suffer from lower back pain while sitting because that condition adds pressure on their discs, which pushes them out of their regular shape. This problem also causes spinal cord strain. 

You can get a herniated disc after falling, lifting something wrongly, or suffering from a repetitive motion injury, such as carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis. However, this is a common problem among older people since it’s part of your body’s natural aging process.   

Regardless of the cause of your herniated disc, we recommend you ask a medical expert to help you treat it.

Muscle Strain

Also known as lumbar strains, muscle strains come from twisting or overstretching your back. It’s easy to tell muscle strain pain apart from other health problems since it goes into your buttocks but stays away from your legs. Apart from that, people with this issue often have a stiff back.  

People suffering from muscle straining can get rid of this problem after some weeks, but everything depends on how severe it is when you start treating it.  

Spinal Stenosis

Your spinal cord runs through a tube in the middle of your spine bones, and that tube connects your nerves to your brain. If that tube is not wide enough to keep everything in place, your spine will squeeze, so if your lower back hurts when sitting, it may be because of that.  

It’s fundamental for people suffering from spinal stenosis to check their condition with a doctor as soon as they can to determine the cause of the problem. Why is this that important? Well, you don’t have to worry that much if it’s the result of a mild injury or an infection. However, things will get worse if it comes from a tumor.  

Some people are born with a narrow spinal canal, but you should already know that if that’s your case.

Degenerative Disc Disease

Suffering from degenerative disc disease is a more dangerous cause of back pain when sitting than the others named on this page. You get this health condition when you damage the bones between your lower spine, and while this is more common among older people, it’s not impossible for young adults to develop it.  

Your annulus fibrosus is in charge of keeping the center of your discs in place, and you can tear it when your discs degenerate. This part of your body can’t heal itself, so your lower back pain when sitting will worsen if you don’t treat it. 

How Can I Treat Back Pain When Sitting?

We know it’s scary to read all the things that could cause lower back pain after sitting, but there are many ways to solve those problems! You can find some of the best ways to reduce back pain below. 

Some methods listed on this page will help you regardless of the source of your pain, so don’t hesitate to try them as you get help from a medical professional.  

Get Ergonomic Furniture

If your lower back hurts when sitting due to adopting a bad posture, the best thing you can do is to buy ergonomic furniture that helps you correct your sitting position. We are talking about lumbar support chairs and standing chairs.  

These products are made to make your body stay in the ideal position to promote back health and optimize comfort, so they are perfect for office workers. If you, for example, get an ergonomic chair, you can sit on it all the time you need without causing any kind of pain.

You can get other products apart from chairs and desks, such as a lower back pain cushion or a memory foam for back support to address this situation. Nonetheless, not all cushions or mats are optimized to correct your posture, so if you want to buy them, you need to get the best anti-fatigue mat for back pain on the market.   

Apply Ice

Applying ice is a common solution for lower back pain while sitting since it helps you reduce inflammation in your back. Nonetheless, this will only help you if your problem caused any kind of inflammation or if it comes from it.  

Gather an ice pack, apply it to the affected area for at least 20 minutes, and remove it. Rather than eliminating the problem completely, doing this could help you feel better while you fully recover. You need to apply the ice pack on your back every hour or twice an hour if your pain is too severe. 

If you do this several times and you don’t feel a sense of relief, this may not be the best solution for your situation.  

Take Over-the-Counter Meds

We only recommend you take over-the-counter medication if you are suffering from extreme lower back pain while sitting or if you developed a more severe health problem you can’t solve in a few days.  

You don’t know how pain relievers or NSAIDs will affect your body if you have never tried them before, so ask a doctor if you can take them and which ones you should go for before doing it. If your doctor tells you those meds can help you, they may make discomfort and swelling go away.

Get a Massage

Whether your back pain when sitting comes after bad posture issues or other health conditions, getting a massage can help you in many ways. Massaging the affected area eases muscle tension and reduces spasms and inflammation. Some massagists may even get to the source of your pain and tell you what you can do to get rid of it. 

If massages can help you eliminate back pain completely, your massagist will ask you to appoint further sessions with them to work towards that goal.  

Take Yoga Classes

Taking yoga classes may be a more challenging way to reduce your pain since you need to commit to your classes and trust the process. Yoga is not easy at all, but the benefits it brings to your life make it worth it.  

How can yoga help you reduce back pain? It does it by strengthening the muscles around your spine, which promotes better spinal alignment. Yoga also enhances the muscles that stabilize your vertebrae and spinal cord.  

Nevertheless, you need to perform the right yoga style to reduce back pain to enjoy these perks. We recommend trying Iyengar yoga for the matter.

Stretch and Exercise Daily

If you don’t feel ready to take yoga classes but still want to engage in physical activity that helps you reduce pain, we recommend some stretches and exercises that are optimal to address this situation. You can try the following exercises for back pain:  

• Plank: You need to get into a pushup position with your forearms on the floor and keep your back straight for as much time as you can. Try to keep your elbows in line with your shoulders while doing this. 
• Bird dog: Get on your knees and keep your back straight. After that, extend one of your legs and the opposite arm out, hold them there for some seconds, and switch sides. 
• Arch: Lie on your back and lift your hips with your core muscles and buttocks. You need to keep your arms by your sides at all times.  

Bottom Line

As you could see, although many things can cause back pain when sitting, there are also many ways to reduce that pain. If you want to keep these issues from happening, the only thing you need to do is stay in a good posture if you know you will sit on your chair for long periods.  

While ergonomic products can keep you from suffering from back pain or reduce it, this will only happen if you buy high-quality office furniture. You can find excellent deals on the Autonomous website, so don’t hesitate to check them out!