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by shanked 5724 days ago
I've had a couple herniated discs in my lower back for over eight years now, so I've spent significant time focusing on improving my posture while sitting.

Here are a few tips:

1. Use a lumbar roll -- you place this in your lower back and it forces you to maintain a lordosis (curve of the spine) by keeping it in position. This will be tiring for the first couple of weeks, but eventually it will feel natural.

Here is a link to a lumbar roll similar to what I've used: http://www.amazon.com/Original-McKenzie-D-Section-700-Lumbar...

2. Monitor height -- you want your monitor to be positioned so that you are looking straight ahead, rather than down, towards your monitor. If you are forced to look down there is a better chance of leaning forward instead of maintaing good posture.

If you're using a laptop, consider buying a laptop stand to increase the height of the laptop. http://www.amazon.com/AliMed-Smart-Stand-Laptop/dp/B003T1LWW...

If you can't get your monitor high enough relative to your position, you'll need a taller desk. -------------------------------------------------------

Those are my two biggest tips, but there are others:

Chairs are not made equal... different chairs have definite discrepancies in the amount of pain they cause me on a day to day basis. Even expensive ones will send shooting pains down my leg within a few hours of sitting in them. If you can test some new chairs out for a day or two at a time, I'd recommend doing so.

Get up, walk, and/or stretch regularly for a couple of minutes. At work I use a small cup for water, which requires me to refill every 45 minutes or so. A quick 2 minute walk to the water tank for a fill-up is a refreshing break for our backs.

1 comments

The drink trick is perfect, but beware you will be going to the bathroom often. Also be aware that you may develop a habit of sipping on your cup very often and that can lead to bad habits while drinking alcohol.
I've used the glass of water trick myself, and it is very helpful. It's especially helpful because when you get stuck while solving a problem, you have a great reason to get up and walk around to think about said problem.

Just another data point: This hasn't affected my drinking habits in other areas.