Lower back pain is one of the most common types of pain in the U.S. In fact, the American Chiropractic Association estimates that about 31 million people are experiencing back pain at any given moment. If you’re one of these people, you may be looking for ways to reduce lower back pain. Fortunately, there’s a physical therapy team that can help you learn how to sit with lower back pain.

Our team at Rehab Access has been serving the areas surrounding our Belle Chasse and Gretna, Louisiana, clinics for two decades. We’ve learned many lessons during that time that have helped make our therapy more effective. One of these lessons is that personalized therapy is more effective therapy.

As a result, our team will never ask you to use a cookie-cutter therapy plan. Instead, we’ll listen to your therapy goals and create a therapy plan for your specific needs. For instance, your personalized plan from Rehab Access may help you learn how to sit with lower back pain.

Three tips for how to sit with lower back pain

Lower back pain can be caused by many different factors, but one of them is not knowing how to sit with lower back pain.

According to one source, about 86 percent of Americans do their jobs sitting down, and for many of these people, sitting down doesn’t mean less low back pain. In fact, poor posture and core muscle strength can lead to increased lower back pain when you sit. However, there are some tips that may help improve your sitting posture and relieve pain in your lower back.

One sitting tip that may help your lower back is don’t cross your legs. Crossing your legs may seem natural and comfortable to you, but it may be contributing to your back pain. Keeping your feet flat on the floor allows you to distribute more body weight to the legs. In turn, this can reduce stress on your back that may cause pain. However, crossing your legs reduces the weight your legs can carry, and this increases the strain on your back, which may lead to increased pain.

A second tip you should consider to sit with less back pain is getting up and moving around. Sitting in the same position for long periods of time can be hard on your back and core. After all, these areas are responsible for holding you in the best posture while seated. Sitting for too long can lead to tired muscles and poor posture, so it’s a good idea to get up and move around for a few minutes every 30 minutes or so to avoid these issues.

Keeping your knees slightly above your hips is a third tip that can help your back while you’re sitting. This is actually one of the easiest things to do if you sit a lot at work. For one thing, most office chairs allow you to adjust their height, and this means you should be able to find a chair height that puts your knees in the best position. However, your legs may be too long for height adjustment alone. If this is the case for you, putting a stool or box under your feet can help you get your knees to the right height.

If you’re looking for other ways to treat lower back pain, Rehab Access is here to help you. Besides offering tips for how to sit with lower back pain, we offer physical therapy plans that can be designed to reduce your pain.

Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.