Sitting can help your joint aches and pains

This may be something you would not expect an osteopath to say, however, like everything in life, the devils in the detail. What type of sitting am I talking about? One study looked at the Hadza people in Tanzania in Africa (1), as they have very low rates of heart disease, and other diseases of the more industrialised world.  It is how they rest that we can learn a thing or two from.  When compared to the western world, they rest a similar number of hours as we do. They also get up and down a similar amount as we do, so where is the difference that means they have low markers of heart disease?  They squat when resting, so you are still using muscle energy so active resting is the way to go.

So, for those of us, who are still relatively mobile, sitting on the floor, kneeling, or squatting for as long as is comfortable and then changing position lying on your front or back, sitting cross legged which helps to keep your hip joints mobile is the way to go. This also means you must get from the floor to standing which uses all those muscles that helps to keep us mobile.

For those of us with less mobility standing from sitting every 5 or 10 minutes when resting engages those muscles for us. The key however is not pushing with your arms to get up from your bottom. It must be done feeling like you’re pushing the floor away lifting from your pelvis and most importantly when returning to the seat, your bottom must be controlled in its dissent. Letting yourself crash back into the chair without control is a warning sign of poor muscles.

So, get resting but get resting but healthy resting keep using those muscles and keep moving.

1. New Scientist, Essential Guide no 16 Exercise p89-93.

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