Can’t Stand Up Straight After Sitting Due To Lower Back Pain?

Many People With Lower Back Pain Have Difficulty Standing Up Straight After Sitting

Standing up straight after sitting is a problem for a lot of people that have back pain.

The task of standing up from a seated position can become more difficult as you age, especially if you're trying to stand up from a low chair or a soft couch.

Even worse, the longer you've been sitting, the harder it gets to stand back up from sitting.

However, learning how to stand up properly will help you prevent back pain  when getting up from sitting.

We'll go over tips to help you stand up straight after sitting, but it first helps to understand WHY you can't stand up straight after sitting for a prolonged period.

Here's Why You Can't Stand Up Straight After Sitting For A Prolonged Period Without Getting Lower Back Pain

How you sit plays a big role in how stiff your back will be when you get up after sitting.

When you sit for prolonged period with your hips bent to about 90 degrees (plus or minus), your hip flexor muscles get stiff.

One of the hip flexor muscles called the psoas (shown in the picture below) attaches to your lower back vertebrae and can create a massive compression force on the joints and discs of the lower back.

When you're sitting without back support, your psoas muscles function like postural muscles to hold your spine straight.

This can even happen to a lesser extent if you're sitting up straight with back support but sitting with your back TOO STRAIGHT. 

Once your hip flexors have gotten stiff from sitting too long, it can cause difficulty straightening back up after sitting.

If your hip flexors can't stretch easily, the only way to move from a hips bent to a hips straight position is to pull the lower back into a more arched or extended position.

This causes the joints in your lower back to jam together, especially if you're over the age of 40 or have degenerative disc disease in your lower back.

 So How Do You Stand Up Straight After Sitting For A Long Period?

Again, the way you sit WHILE you're sitting makes a big difference in how stiff you'll be when you go to stand back up.

However, changing the technique that you use in order to stand up can also help.

Use these tips to stand up straight after sitting without getting lower back pain:

1. Scoot to the front edge of the chair.
2. Bend your knees to get your feet underneath of you.
3. Lean forward to bring your center of gravity over your feet. Your bottom should almost naturally start to rise as your head goes forward.
4. Straighten your knees and allow your pelvis to roll under you, keeping your back slightly rounded.
5. When you get all the way upright, don't lean backward. Even if it feels like you’re still bent over, you’re probably not. That's just the position that your body has gotten used to as "normal".