Do you know why the incidence of back pain in tribal people is very low? They don’t tend to sit in chairs for long hours.
Sitting Support
Most people sit slumped back into the chair seat maybe misguidedly thinking that in doing so they are supporting their back. In fact they are often sitting on their tailbone which was never designed by nature to support weight. Sitting like this tilts the pelvis backwards and compromises the spine’s double curves, this in turn prevents the spine from lengthening.
There is nothing wrong with the evolutionary design of our back but a sedentary lifestyle and poor postural use make the back weak.
Saddle Seats
Some of us have been provided with saddle seats at work. These seats are better designed than normal chairs because they provide support directly under the spine. This allows for better pelvic support.
However, if your overall posture is poor you might be carrying that misuse with you even when sitting on a saddle chair. So, try this:
Sit in a normal chair with your hands palms up under your gluteous. Feeling a sticking out bone under each side? You have located your sitting bones.
In the seated position the sitting bones take the weight of the torso – not the tailbone!
Moving From the Hips
In the saddle seat as you lean forward to reach ahead, feel the weight shifting on your sitting bones. What you don’t want is as your pelvis moves forward you bend in the lumbar spine and hollow your back. Instead allow your spine to move as one unit i.e. right from the top of your head down to the hip joint.
This is a mechanically sound and healthy way to move when seated.
A well balanced pelvis will be a better support for the spine. A lengthening spine will be able to keep both lumbar and cervical curves. Remember your lumbar curve has some movement but it’s not a joint. Use your hip joints instead. Feel how well supported your head is on top of this structure!