The Harm of Sitting- Upper and Lower Cross Syndrome

America is a hard-working, income-driven society. Most of us work about 8 hours, 5 days a week, with a total of 1-2 hours of commuting each day. From an anatomical perspective, most of this time is spent in one position: seated.

Why is this a bad thing?

Too much sitting often leads to something called “Upper and Lower Cross Syndrome”

Upper Cross Syndrome is a result of poor posture of the upper body. The cervical extensor muscles become tight, as well as the chest muscles, while the cervical flexor muscles become weak along with the scapular retractors. What does that mean and why does that happen?

It’s a result of prolonged poor posture. Nobody’s eyesight is perfect, so we tend to lean forward to focus on what we’re doing, whether it’s driving or working on the computer. The farther forward your head sits, the harder your neck extensor muscles must work to control your head’s posture, while the neck flexors are virtually doing no work to balance the position of your head. One’s shoulders tend to draw forward, especially while seated, which keeps the chest in a shortened position and elongates a group of muscles such as the rhomboids.

Lower Cross Syndrome is the same problem, but on the lower half of the trunk. The lumbar extensors and hip flexors become tight, while the abdominals and glutes become weak. This happens for the same reason as upper cross syndrome: prolonged poor posture. Sitting keeps the pelvis in a flexed position, which is going to tighten the hip flexors and reciprocally weaken the glutes.

 

So what can you do to prevent this from occurring? I know work is inevitable, as is the traffic that comes along with the commute, but there are many ways to reduce the upper and lower cross syndrome.

Step 1- EXERCISE! This is the easiest and most obvious solution. Exercise keeps the body moving, keeps the blood flowing, and prevents you from being stuck in one position for too long. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends at least 5 days per week of moderate intensity exercise.

Step 2- Take breaks from sitting! The main issue is that we stay stuck in the same position for too long and our bodies are forced to adapt. In anatomy, Wolff’s law states that bone will adapt to the loads placed upon it. In other words, the longer you stay in a certain position, the more accustomed your skeleton becomes to that position. Set a timer every 15 minutes and stand up, do 5 squats, walk to the bathroom and back, do ANYTHING that will regularly move you away from the seated position!

Step 3- Consider buying a standing desk. Standing is a more natural position for the human body. After all, millions of years of evolution brought humans to be bipedal.

Step 4- Stretching. Logically, this would seem like the easiest solution. However, it’s not that simple. If you stretch your chest for 2 minutes, does that really provide balance from the 10+ hours of sitting with your shoulders rounded forward? Not really. But, it provides a good starting point. Developing a habit of stretching every day, multiple times, can definitely provide relief from the constant seated position, and allows your body to be more mobile for when you begin that exercise routine I mentioned in Step 1 😉

Step 5- Postural Awareness. Arguably the most important, is to create an awareness of what your posture looks like. The ears should be in line with the shoulders, which should be in line with the hips, which should be in line with the knees, which should be in line over the ankles. Yes, it’s one big kinetic chain! Each link is just as important as the next.

 

-Sebastien Goodman