Sitting in chairs is relatively new to the human experience. Even newer to the human experience is prolonged sitting in chairs, and back pain that stems from it. Sitting is unnatural to human mechanics, and it can induce a predictable pattern of muscle tightness as a result.
Sitting Back Pain - Muscle Tension
Sitting in chairs for long periods of time wreaks havoc on specific areas of the body. The two main areas of interest are the hip flexors and the mid back.
Hip Flexor Tightness:
First things first - the hips. Sitting shortens the hip flexor muscles in the front of the body (Psoas and Iliacus in particular), which can single handedly result in increased pressure on the lower back. It is fairly common knowledge that hip flexor tightness can contribute to back pain, but it is not necessarily common knowledge when it comes to relieving this pain. Luckily, you found this article: the short recipe for relieving hip-flexor-tightness-back-pain is 1) deep tissue massage and 2) stretch.
Mid Back Tightness:
The mid back is the second portion of the body that is strained from prolonged sitting. This looks like the rounded shoulder, slouched posture that everybody should try to avoid. This posture not only looks unattractive and can cause depression, but it also can contribute to back pain. To correct this posture and potentially relieve back pain, two steps should be taken: 1) massage the mid back, and 2) stretch and open the mid back.
Sitting Back Pain - Relief
If you caught yourself in back pain from prolonged sitting, this video is a must watch for you. This video explains 4 key movements to eliminating your sitting-induced lower back pain and returning to a healthy, pain free posture.
Sitting Back Pain Relief Clinical Trials
If you are interested in signing up for a clinical trial in or around back pain (among many other ailments), check out Third Opinion. Third Opinion connects patients directly to trial managers for their conditions (i.e. Multiple Myeloma clinical trials), without the hassle of recruitment and guess work about health records.