If sitting down for long periods is bad for us, then why is walking or standing up all day cause lower back pain?
In: Biology
I didn’t see any correct answers, so might as well give my input. I apologize if I just missed it. Also, english isn’t my first language so I apologize if it’s clunky.
Walking and standing upright requires contant balancing, and that’s the spines job. That’s why we have so many vertebrae, even though smaller structures are more prone to breaking. Balancing is so important that we have given up stronger and bigger bones for precise movement and compensation. Basically what we all need is that our feet are on the ground and that our eyes are level. Spine will always try to get to this point.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s address your question. The battle against sitting has been lost long ago. We sit way too much and are way too passive anyway. Also for many of us, our daily exercising(or moving in general) doesn’t compensate for the positions we spend a lot of time in ie. sitting. And muscles always adapt to what you give them, so if you sit a lot, your adductors and hip flexors, mostly pectineus and iliacus respectively, will shorten. Now, when you stand up, those muscles will stay short and your pelvis tilts anteriorilly (belly comes forward). Now your lower back has to compensate for you tilting forwards by doing more work to balance your posture. This leads to more pronounced curves in your back, stronger lordosis in lower back and neck and kyphosis in thoracic area.
Now that was just about the forward-backwards line. Of course, your back will also compensate for left-right changes, so if you exert one side more than the other, spine will compensate this with a functional scoliosis. That’s very different from structural scoliosis. Basically everyone is a bit crooked like this but those who sports (football, hockey, golf, etc.) are more pronounced. This is also why the discs rupture in the long run.
ELI5: As someone else already mentioned, doing anything for too long is bad. We’ve just been sitting for too long for too many years the pain is from trying to keep the posture upright.
Source: I do this for a living
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