How Micro-breaks Can Cure Lower Back and Hip Pain at Work?

Lower Back and Hip Pain at Work

In today’s scenario, most of us are bound to do working a job that includes sitting in our office or home desks for most of the day. Even though we are aware that sitting for long hours is not healthy, we can’t help it. People see sitting no lesser than the harmful smoking. But, you need to remember that sitting is not a problem here, but the way we immobilize ourselves during the job.

We hope most of you would agree sitting for long hours at a stretch during your 9 to 5 job. Have you ever thought you need some breaks and other measures to keep you healthy?

Well, if you haven’t thought about this yet, start thinking about it  now. At first, let’s learn how microbreaks during our work will help with our lower back and hip pain when sitting. So, keep reading.

Can Sitting Cause Back and Hip Pain?

To have a better understanding, we say our bodies aren’t meant to stay in any position for a long period of time. Whether  it is sitting, walking, or standing, we are most likely to develop some sort of pain if we do it for long hours. Although we spend some time at the gyms, walking, cooking, or playing, it’s true that we cannot make up for all the time we spend on sitting with our butt during the day.

Your lower back is more likely to hurt while sitting. The impact will be worse when your posture is not right.  For this reason, people who work for long hours before PC or mobile are advised to use posture corrector braces to minimize the back and hip pain caused by a bad or improper posture. A good quality posture corrector will help enhance the shoulder and back alignment so as to prevent any further damage to your muscles and bones. In addition, it will also keep you from slouching and hunching, which are the major reasons for back and hip pain.

Now, we hope you wouldn’t have wondered why so many people complain about lower back and hip pain today, right? According to a 2013 research study, back pain is found to be the third-most popular reason for doctor visits in the U.S.[1]

Knowing the causes of lower back and hip pain, aren’t you interested to find a relief? Well, let’s see what other than a posture corrector brace will help with your back and hip pain.

Microbreaks Can Provide You Relief

For most of us, the nature of the job we do could put up a serious issue of sitting in chairs for hours together. But, we can’t consider switching the job as an ideal solution here. As mentioned above, sitting is not the real culprit, but the immobilization.

How are you going to tackle this?

Mobilization can help! By mobilizing, we aren’t just talking about taking trips to the washroom or break room. Rather, we recommend you do some directional, rhythmic movements, such as stretching, contracting, and working your muscles.

Medical experts see “Microbreaking” as a survival strategy for chair-bound workers. Microbreaks can be defined as the regular, short, and biologically-meaningful breaks from sitting in the same position for a long time at work.

This is a little different from the concept of ideal positioning that is known to most of you. Yes, we agree that sitting posture while working is important, but, you should understand that no chair and efficiently arranged workstation can save you from the potential dangers of sitting for hours together. While it’s true that a good quality posture corrector can help you to some extent, it’s also clear from science that exercise and physical activity are essential. So, if simply getting out of your chair often doesn’t matter by itself, it would matter a lot if you can utilize those breaks to exercise.[2]

What Should You Include in Your Microbreaks?

As mentioned above, microbreaks are actually micro workouts. It’s more than just getting up for the  bathrooms. Get up to do some light exercises that focus on the range of motion of the joints. According to medical experts, these exercises can help a big difference when it comes to preventing lower back and hip pain when sitting.

But, variety is a key here. You must cycle through various movements that work many areas of your body in order to get the most of microbreaks to relieve back and hip pain.

A few suggestions include:

• Stair climbing
• Brisk walking
• Air squatting
• Trunk twisting
• Arm hugging
• Twisted toe touching
• Leg swinging
• Skating
• Sumo squatting
• Seated cat stretching
• Hip raising
• Superman stretching

Remember, these are just a few examples and will give you a good start point. You can think of several modifications to make your workouts more/less challenging. For example, you can add in a weight, do it with a single leg, use a chair, and so on.[3]

What Could be the Other Benefits of Microbreaking?

So, we know t the obvious of taking microbreaks during work will help ease your lower back. But, the benefits of microbreaking don’t end here. It will boost your energy levels. In addition, the absence of the disturbing pain in your back can boost your focus, as well as productivity. Furthermore, it can save your trips to the physical therapists and chiropractors.

Above all, your regular movements can help prevent discomfort and stiffness in other areas of the body. You can see your knees, neck, and shoulders are much efficient than before. For better results, you are advised to choose the dynamic movements that involve the whole body than just doing a few static stretches.

How Often is Best in Microbreaking?

Ideally, you can take 2 to 5-minute breaks every half hour to have your blood pumping. However, this can seem unrealistic for you. So, it’s advisable that you get up out of your chair and do some mobility exercises every one hour. Be it for 2 minutes or 10 minutes, you must make sure that you are getting out of your chair and moving.

In general, several small breaks are better than a single long one. This will solve all the problems of sitting for hours at a stretch. So, try to fit this into your schedule by working through or shortening your lunch breaks or staying a bit later at work to compensate for these little breaks. You can even try working while on the move.

References

1..https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(12)01036-1/abstract

2..https://www.webmd.com/back-pain/get-through-the-day#1

3..https://www.startstanding.org/sitting-back-pain/