Backache due to wrong posture

'Sit up straight, you'll hurt your back,' is what you have always heard. It turns out that this is a wrong hypothesis. According to recent research, sitting in an upright 90-degree position places more strain on the back than sitting in a slightly reclined 135-degree position. Researchers from the University of Alberta Hospital in Canada used a 'positional' MRI scanner to study 22 healthy adults with no history of back pain or back surgery as they sat in three different positions: a slouching position in which the body is hunched forward, like over a keyboard; an upright straight-back position with legs at 90-degrees and knees and hips at the same level; and a 'relaxed' 135-degree tilt back position. In this position, the legs are lower than the hips and the back is slightly forward with a normal curvature, which provides lumbar support. It was found that the reclined 135 degrees position is the ideal sitting position because it actually is similar to a neutral relaxed lying down position. Potentially harmful spinal disk movement was most pronounced with the 90-degree sitting position; it was least pronounced with the 135-degree relaxed position, indicating that less strain is placed on the spine and associated muscles and tendons in this position. With the 90-degree sitting position, the back goes completely straight and one actually strains one's back against gravity. The bending forward or slouching position is the worst sitting position for the back. So for desk-bound workers who want to protect their backs or relieve their aching back, the researchers advise finding a chair that allows one to sit at a 135-degree angle. This may be all that is necessary to prevent back pain, rather than trying to cure pain that has occurred over the long term due to bad postures. Providing such a chair is likely to be cost-effective for employers, given that back pain is the most common cause of work-related disability and a leading contributor to job-related absenteeism.