Feeling creaky and stiff when sitting or standing at your desk during your workday? Unfortunately, this is a common experience for many people since many jobs require sitting or standing at a desk for extended periods of time.

What explains this paradox?! How does simply sitting or standing where we are (exerting minimally) cause us to feel so uncomfortable? Several factors can contribute to stiffness and discomfort associated with stagnant positions for an extended amount of time:

• Prolonged Sitting or Standing: Our bodies are designed to move, not to remain stagnant. When we don’t change position, muscles and joints can feel immobile and stiff because your fascial system is literally growing itself together. Every bit of your body is covered in fascia, especially muscles and nerves, and they should all slide and glide on each other to create efficient, pain-free movement. Lack of movement not only reduces blood flow and circulation to the nerves and muscles, but it also creates adhesions in the fascia decreasing your ability to move leading to a feeling of tightness. In addition, the fascial system has more nerve endings than any other part of the body, so when it develops these adhesions, it can create discomfort and over time, pain.
• Inefficient Posture: When our trunk does not situate itself well over our pelvis and pelvic floor, we are not efficiently using our base of support when we are in a sitting or standing position. If the pelvis and trunk are in conflicting positions to one another, we can’t efficiently transfer load through our bodies or activate our core stabilizing muscles when needed. When we sit or stand in a slouched or in a rigid upright position, we can get into a battle with gravity. Discomfort and muscle fatigue can result, along with muscular imbalances and stiffness.
• Muscle Weakness or Muscle Overuse: Sedentary behavior can lead to muscle weakness, poor support for our body, and resulting stiffness and discomfort. Also, when we sit or stand in positions that over-use one particular set of muscles, these muscles can easily fatigue and lead to discomfort.
• Stress and Tension: Mental stress and tension can manifest physically, leading to muscle tightness and stiffness. You may have noticed neck tension or pain increase when you are under increased stress.

For most of us, avoiding sitting or standing for a good part of our day is just not an option. Luckily, there are many ways to combat this stiffness. To decrease discomfort and to feel more refreshed, try incorporating the following habits:

• Take Regular Breaks aka “Movement Snacks”: Get away from the desk/computer and move around at least once every 30 minutes to promote blood circulation and prevent stiffness. Add movement into your day, such as taking the stairs, walking during lunch breaks, or incorporating short exercise routines. The idea of “movement snacks” has been popularized recently in the health and wellness world; this means incorporating short, frequent bursts of physical activity into daily routines to counteract the prolonged periods of sitting. Check out these videos for examples of “movement snacks” you can try out during your workday demonstrated by Dr. Kurt Gorrell, PT, DPT, CSCS:
  • Seated Thoracic Extension
  • Seated “Frame the Door” Exercise
  • Seated Thoracic rotation
• Maintain Efficient Posture: Proper posture should be a place of ease without having to strain our muscles to keep us upright. Efficient posture requires that we have a solid foundation through our base of support (feet on the ground and pelvis on our sitting surface) that allows for our trunk to be in an alignment and appropriate transfer of force through our body.
• Stretch Regularly: Perform simple desk stretches to release tension in your muscles and maintain flexibility. Check out this video on Chair Stretches where Dr. Allison Massopust, PT, DPT, OCS, CFM, CPNFT demonstrates these movements.
• Use Ergonomic Equipment: Adjust your chair, desk, and computer monitor to ensure ergonomic alignment and support. Sometimes simple adjustments, like an external keyboard or adjusting the height of the computer monitor, can have large improvements on our discomfort.
• Mindfulness Practices: If you notice increasing stress levels contributing to your physical discomfort, take a pause to do deep breathing or your favorite mindfulness practice. This can be as simple as taking a few minutes to clear your thoughts.

If you experience persistent stiffness and discomfort despite making these adjustments, we here at Beacon PT are here to help you out in improving your discomfort. As trained Physical Therapists, we can help assess your specific situation, provide personalized advice, and recommend exercises or stretches tailored for you, and train you how to make your sitting and standing habits efficient. Reach out to us to learn how to sit more efficiently and feel less discomfort!

Citation:

Collins CK, Johnson VS, Godwin EM, Pappas E. The reliability and validity of the Saliba Postural Classification System. J Man Manip Ther. 2016 Jul;24(3):174-81. doi: 10.1080/10669817.2016.1138599. PMID: 27559288; PMCID: PMC4984814.