What happens to your body when you sit all day?

Last updated on February 13th, 2023 at 04:46 pm

Sitting in front of the computer and staring continuously on the monitor for hours can be rewarding monetarily. But, the pain that you carry with you can disturb you, why my desk job is killing me?

Do you know your highflying desk job comes with a health risk? Sitting long hours on a chair in front of the desk and staring continuously at the computer screen can take toll of your health. But good thing is that there’s a way out.

A desk job by any means is far more attractive and comfortable than fieldwork but its sedentary nature carries its own health risk. If you are holding a desk job and need to work more than 8 hours sitting on a chair then do read this article till the end. Because in this article we are going to discuss the potential risks you may encounter and its practical approach to avoiding them.

So let’s get started.

What happens to your body when you sit all day?

We have listed 4 potential musculo-skeletol health risk that you may face if you are holding a desk job. But good news is that there’s a way out. In the article below we will discuss this 4 health hazard and how you can prevent yourself from this and enjoy your office stay.

1: Desk job and lower back pain

However comfortable your chair may be, sitting for a long hour in a single position causes continuous stress over the low back this results in lower back pain that can get even worse with time.  

Doesn’t it sound familiar? Well if you are suffering from this kind of back pain or do not want to be one of them then follow these steps.

• Use ergonomically designed chair: Use lower back support on your chair to give support to the curves at the low back. This support could be a simple pillow or specialized lumbar support mesh.
• Take a short break every hour: Another important thing we would suggest you are taking a short break in the interval of every hour. Walk a little distance around your desk and give a comfortable left-right twist on your back. 

2: Desk job and carpal tunnel syndrome

A desk job with long hours working on a computer keyboard and mouse are at risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome.  It has found to develop in a person as young as 22 years of age.

It is manifested by wrist pain and tingling sensation on the palm. So here are some tips to prevent it.

• Use the ergonomically designed mouse pad with wrist support, so that there is less stress over the wrist. o
• Take a break every half an hour and perform these short carpal tunnel syndrome exercises: wrist rotation exercise, wrist flexion, and wrist extension exercises, wrist flexor, and extensor stretching exercise. 

3: Desk job and neck pain (forward neck posture)

When working in front of computer monitor unknowingly you stoop your head forward for better clarity. slowly and steadily with the time, this stooping posture takes a permanent shape. And we develop a wrong posture known as forward neck posture.

Forward neck posture as such looks odd but also could be the reason for many secondary complications. Secondary complications such as neck pain, shoulder pain and even worse could be headache and dizziness.

But again before you reach up to this point here is the things which can help you avoid this. Take break every hour and take 5 minutes to perform this simple neck exercises

• Neck side bending.
• Forward and backward bending of neck.
• Side to side stretching of neck muscle.
• Chin tuck exercise.

4: Muscle weakness & muscle tightness

The Human body is engineered for physical work. We have over 326 bone and 200 muscles in our body so our body is actually made for physical work. Physical activity or movement has its own significance like it helps to keep our muscles in an optimum tone and flexibility. 

For anyone, it’s not difficult to guess what will happen when we spend 8 to 10 hours a day of our life sitting on a chair. our muscles become weak and tight.

would you like to test on yourself? Ok! stand in front of a stool place one of your heels over the stool and maintain the knee to straight. Take your opposite hand and try to touch the great toe of this leg on the stool. 

I am sure many of you cannot, this is because your hamstring muscle is tight. Weakness and tightness of the muscles also aggravates the musculoskeletal pain like back pain and neck pain. The most common muscle to get tight is hamstring and piriformis.

So what to do?

Take out time out of your busy schedule in the morning and do simple stretching and jogging exercise.

Piriformis exercises stretching can be performed on your office chair itself.  Place one of your leg over the other leg, keep both of your hands on your back and bend yourself forward. Hold this position for at least of 60 seconds and repeat it on the other side repeat this for two to three times.

Final words

By simple modification of your lifestyle, you can easily save yourself from all these problems. Like, plan your day so that you can take out half an hour for exercises. It could be in the morning before going to the office or evening after returning. Or simply use stairs instead of elevators. Do simple things and enjoy your pain-free desk job for life.

Exercises are very important, however, you may sometimes develop pain after the exercise session. This is quite normal and you need not have to worry about it. In addition to this, the injured rotator cuff also needs nourishment. Let me share some important tips and products that can help you with this. f you have pain, simply apply a pain ointment over the painful area and let the body absorb it for 10 minutes. After a gap of ten minutes apply a hot pack over the area and you would feel almost instant relief.

Keep Reading: What is the Best Exercises for Carpal Tunnel