Check your Sitting Position
Sit at the front of the chair, two feet on the ground. Place a hand under one buttock and feel around until you find the sitting bone. Slip out the hand and notice that you are now aware that the sitting bone is making contact with the chair. You have just given yourself a mini ‘Alexander’ experience.
Repeat on the other side. Rock gently from side to side on the sitting bones at least once every twenty minutes.
Check your Chair
The seat should be one third of the person’s height. Most chairs are designed so that the seat slopes backwards, making it difficult to sit comfortably at a desk or computer to work. The design predisposes the spine to round.
To adapt a backward sloping chair, support the back legs making the seat slope forward or at least be level (B). The aim is for the knee joint to be lower than the hip joint. Use plastic ‘buttons’, wooden blocks (with holes drilled or turned in them) or thick books. Children sometimes tilt the chair forward over the front legs to do this. Alternatively put a posture wedge cushion on the seat of the chair.
For when you want to rest, place a pliable garden kneeler, long thick cushion or even a folded coat against the back of the chair (C). You can lean back against it but the spine is still aligned.
Another alternative is to sit on an air filled cushion which encourages you to sit in a balanced way as well as exercising the long postural muscles of the back. Or if space is not an issue, sit on a gym ball (Argos) at the computer, in front of the television or at a desk.
If relaxing in an armchair then the seat of the chair should slope backwards. The ideal chair would tilt forwards and backwards with your movements.
Check your Desk
The desk should be at least half the person’s height. An empty file can make a sloping desk top so that what you are looking at is angled towards your eyes. Use a book support for text books. (N.B. Keyboards should be at elbow height.)
See www.backcare.org.uk for more information