The Claim: Sitting Up Straight Is Best for Your Back

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By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
Published: December 12, 2006

THE FACTS Sit up straight, parents tell their children. It’s a well-known refrain, repeated through generations and based on the theory that anything other than a 90-degree posture places undue strain on the back.

Despite its persistence, that advice is wrong. Parents may insist that sitting up straight with your thighs parallel to the ground is the best way to sit, but a long list of studies has shown that that position increases stress on the lumbar disks in your lower back.

Thirty years ago, scientists first showed this by inserting needles into the backs of volunteers and measuring the amount of pressure created by various seating positions. They found that a reclining position was ideal, placing the least strain on the back and minimizing pressure that could lead to back problems. Since then, multiple studies have confirmed that finding.

But it was only in 2006 that scientists produced direct visual evidence. In a study that used new magnetic resonance imaging machines that allow people to sit instead of lie down, a team of researchers at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland looked at 22 volunteers who sat in three positions. The first two positions, sitting upright and sitting with the body hunched forward, produced the greatest spinal disk movement, causing the internal disk material to misalign. The third position, in which the subjects reclined at a 135-degree angle with their feet planted on the floor, created the least strain.

According to the study, any position in which a person leans back, opening the angle between the thighs and the back, is preferable to sitting up straight.

THE BOTTOM LINE Sitting upright at a 90-degree angle strains your back; leaning back places less pressure on the spine.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/health/12real.html?ref=health
 
:sl:

Really!! :eek: Because I sit most of the times with my back straight, and when I say straight I mean straight straight straight. My mom was always telling me to sit up straight and now it's just in me. Hmmm.....so it's not good for you.....:-\
 
heard that on the news the other day.. to be honest I couldn't care less what the so-called experts say.. I say the best position is the one we feel comfortable in. I'm a sloucher :p
 
i don't sit up straight... :hiding:

i sit up straight only at the hotel...or during interview or....during the meeting...


otherwise.....:D
 
doesn't it feel like hard work sitting up? stiff like ur in a straight-jacket lol
 
Muslimah_Sis said:
doesn't it feel like hard work sitting up? stiff like ur in a straight-jacket lol
Click to expand...

:sl:

Oui, i'll try but it won't take long before I start slouching.

Comfortable!


Ah well.
 
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Assalamu aleikum

this is da 2nd time our mums are proven wrong:1st one was da cracking of da knuckles and now this.Maybe it works well since most of kids do exactly da opposite of what their mums say anyways.All ma life i had been told to sit up straight but i am a born sloucher.
 
Muslimah_Sis said:
doesn't it feel like hard work sitting up? stiff like ur in a straight-jacket lol
Click to expand...

It aint hard work!! Lol You get used to it after a while, you even start walkin' straight after a while too. ;)

I look at slouchers and it actually hurts my back seeing their back bent like that! :heated:

How do you guys do it?

and i dont believe that article :mmokay:
 
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amirah_87 said:
It aint hard work!! Lol You get used to it after a while, you even start walkin' straight after a while. ;)

I look at slouchers and it actually hurts my back seeing their back bent like that! :heated:

How do you guys do it?

and i dont believe that article :mmokay:
Click to expand...

As a sloucher,i could ask u da same question.i cant last long sitting straight up.that is why i used to sit at da back of da class where da teacher was most likely not to see me.
 
amirah_87 said:
It aint hard work!! Lol You get used to it after a while, you even start walkin' straight after a while too. ;)

I look at slouchers and it actually hurts my back seeing their back bent like that! :heated:

How do you guys do it?

and i dont believe that article :mmokay:
Click to expand...
lol, how can you sit up straight? Maybe people who sit up straight, don't do hard physical work. I know if they did, they'd be slouching too! :p


Lina said:
:sl:

Oui, i'll try but it won't take long before I start slouching.

Comfortable!
HZ7M2765.jpg


Ah well.
Click to expand...
don't! stick to how your body feels comfortable. Slouch away!!! :D
 
so? why r u worrying sis? :giggling:

When I read posts, I lean one elbow on my desk and rest my chin in my palm... how's that for laziness! ;D
 
Then I bet your fave position is lying down..and you wish you monitor was hanging off chains from the ceiling and ur TV was somewhere there too? hahahaha ;D
 
hahahaha :giggling: ;)

I bet u like putting ur legs up when sitting on the sofa? lolll
 
its more like "Slouching decreases the pressure on the spine while sitting up straight increases pressure".
That's more like it.
This is how it feels for me when i sit up straight or slouch.
 
^^ for me its the total opposite.

my back HURTS when i slouch. My shoulders and neck too.
Plus slouching makes a person look so lazy. :p
 

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