How Sitting Too Much Affects Your Posture (And What to Do About It)

Does Your Posture Change When You Work at A Desk

Have you ever noticed that after sitting at a desk for several hours, you seem to become more rounded? Perhaps your shoulders start to creep forwards, your head moves towards the screen, and your upper back begins to feel stiff and uncomfortable.

You might even notice that when you stand up afterwards, it feels difficult to straighten yourself out properly.

One of the problems with spending long periods sitting down is that our bodies can start to adapt to the positions we spend the most time in. And if we spend hour after hour, day after day, sitting in a rounded position, that can eventually start to influence the way we hold ourselves when we're standing and moving too.

So let's look at what's actually happening, and more importantly, what we can do about it.

How does sitting affect our posture?

When we're sitting, particularly when we're working at a computer, it's very easy to gradually start slouching. The shoulders round forwards, the head moves forwards towards the screen and the upper back becomes more rounded. We don't necessarily make a conscious decision to sit like this. It can happen gradually as we become tired or focused on what we're doing.

There's also another part of our sitting position that we need to consider: the pelvis.

When we're sitting for long periods, we often tuck the pelvis underneath us. This encourages the lower back and the rest of the spine to become more rounded.

Put these things together and you can end up with a fairly consistent pattern:

The pelvis tucks underneath, the spine rounds, the shoulders move forwards and the head comes forwards.

There's nothing inherently wrong with being in this position for a short period of time. Our bodies are designed to move into lots of different positions. The problem is when we spend a very large proportion of our day in essentially the same position.

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Your body adapts to what you repeatedly do

Our bodies are remarkably adaptable. That's a really useful thing when we're training, exercising and developing new movement skills. But it also means that if we're repeatedly putting our body into the same position, it can begin to adapt to that position too.

If you're sitting for eight hours a day, five days a week, that's a lot of time spent in one particular posture.

Over time, some of the muscles and other tissues involved in maintaining that position can become tighter and less comfortable when they're lengthened. Other muscles may not be working as effectively as they could. This can make it feel increasingly difficult to move out of that familiar position.

You might then find that standing up straight feels like hard work.

And this is where I think it's important to make a distinction between trying to force yourself into a straighter posture and actually addressing some of the things that are contributing to the posture in the first place.

Why simply pulling your shoulders back isn't the answer

There's a little trick that many people use when they're trying to stand up straighter.

You pull your shoulders back, lift your chest and perhaps even push your ribcage upwards. And, yes, from the outside this can make you look much straighter. But what's actually happening?

You may still have that rounded upper back position underneath it all. You're simply using other parts of your body to create the appearance of being upright.

It can also create a position where the ribcage is lifted rather than relaxed over the pelvis.

This matters because your ribcage and pelvis work together as part of your whole-body movement system. If you constantly hold the ribcage lifted, you're changing the position in which your abdominal muscles and other muscles around your trunk are working.

So rather than thinking:

“I need to pull my shoulders back and stand up straight.”

I'd much rather you think:

“Can I release some of the tension that's pulling me forwards, and then allow myself to find a more natural upright position?”

That's a very different approach.

Open up the front and strengthen the back

If you've developed a rounded upper-body position from spending lots of time sitting, there are two things we can start thinking about. Firstly, we want to reduce some of the tension at the front of the body. The muscles across the front of the chest, including the pectoral muscles, can become accustomed to being in a shortened position when the shoulders are repeatedly held forwards.

Secondly, we want to make sure that the muscles around the shoulder blades and upper back are strong and able to support good movement of the shoulders.

So rather than just trying to hold yourself in a different position all day, we're looking at rebalancing the body.

And you don't need a complicated exercise programme to get started.

Here are two really simple exercises you can try.

Exercise 1: Chest stretch

For this exercise, you'll need something vertical to hold onto. An door frame can work well, or you could use a post or another sturdy vertical surface.

Stand beside your chosen support and hold onto it at approximately shoulder height.

Straighten your arm out and then gradually move your feet away from the support, turning your body gently away from your hand.

You should feel a stretch across the front of your chest and shoulder.

You may also feel some of the stretch travelling down into your arm.

You don't need to force this.

We're not trying to get the biggest stretch possible. We're simply looking for a comfortable stretch across the front of the body.

Hold the position for around 30 seconds, then relax.

And, of course, don't forget to do the other side.

If you've been sitting for long periods, this can be a really nice way of reminding the front of your body that it doesn't always have to be in that shortened, forwards position.

Exercise 2: Shoulder blade rolls

The second exercise is going to help us work the muscles around the shoulder blades.

Start with your arms out at approximately shoulder height.

Turn the backs of your hands towards the front, with your thumbs pointing downwards.

Now gently lift your shoulders upwards and then think about pressing your shoulder blades down your back.

Then lift them again and press them down.

So you're creating a gentle rolling movement with the shoulder blades.

This isn't really about making huge circles with your shoulders.

Instead, I want you to focus your attention on what's happening around your shoulder blades.

Think about the feeling you get when you're carrying heavy shopping bags.

When you're holding those bags, you can often feel the muscles working around your upper back and shoulder blades.

That's roughly the area we're looking to engage here.

Try around 8–10 repetitions, moving slowly and comfortably.

You don't need to make this a strenuous exercise. The aim is to get the shoulder blades moving and to start strengthening the muscles that help to stabilise them.

But the biggest change is to move more

These exercises can be useful, but there's something even more important that we need to address.

How much time are you spending sitting?

Because if you do these exercises for five minutes and then go straight back to sitting in the same position for another eight hours, you're still spending the vast majority of your day in that fixed position.

Our bodies are designed for movement. That doesn't mean you need to spend your working day exercising. It simply means that we want to avoid staying in exactly the same position for hours at a time.

Take regular movement breaks.

Get up regularly.

Walk around.

Change your sitting position.

Stand for a while if you can.

Move your shoulders.

Reach your arms overhead.

Take a few steps while you're on the phone.

Even small amounts of movement throughout the day can help to break up those long periods of sitting.

And importantly, you don't have to wait until your body starts hurting before you do this.

Movement isn't just something we should use to fix a problem once we've developed one. It's something we can use throughout the day to help keep our bodies comfortable and capable.

Don't aim for perfect posture

There's one final thing I want you to take away from this.

I don't want you to become obsessed with having “perfect posture”.

There isn't one single position that your body needs to stay in all day. Good posture isn't about holding yourself rigidly in one ideal position. It's about having the capacity to move between different positions comfortably.

You can slouch sometimes.

You can sit forwards sometimes.

You can stand with your weight on one leg.

You can round your spine.

You can straighten your spine.

All of these movements are normal.

The issue is when our lifestyle means that we spend an enormous amount of time in one particular position and gradually lose the ability to move comfortably away from it.

So rather than constantly reminding yourself to “sit up straight”, think about giving your body more opportunities to move.

Change position.

Take a break.

Open up the front of your chest.

Move your shoulders.

Strengthen your back.

And, most importantly, don't expect your body to remain completely unchanged if you're spending most of your waking day in a chair.

Start small

If you work at a desk, you don't need to completely redesign your working day overnight.

Start with something simple.

Set yourself a reminder to get up regularly.

Do the chest stretch.

Try your shoulder blade rolls.

Walk around while you're waiting for the kettle to boil.

Stand up when you're on the phone.

Look for those little opportunities to move that already exist within your day.

Because when it comes to reducing the effects of a sedentary lifestyle, consistency is much more important than doing one huge workout occasionally. Your body responds to what you do repeatedly. So let's give it plenty of opportunities to move.

And if you'd like some more practical ideas for becoming more active during your working day, take a look at my Desk Reset course. It's designed to help you break up those long periods of sitting with simple movement that you can actually fit into a normal working day, whether you're working in an office or from home.

You don't need a gym, lots of equipment or huge amounts of time.

Just small, manageable changes that you can build into your day.