The truth about sitting

Sitting and its harmful effects have been a hot topic in the last few years; sitting has even been called the new tobacco. The claim might seem like an overstatement, but when we look deeper into the marks sitting leaves into our body, we’ll understand it better.

Over 80% of people suffer from some degree of back pain during their life. You might have
sometimes noticed how sitting for a long time has made a pain in the lower back worse or increased aches in the shoulders and neck. These are very common problems that can be caused by sitting for long times. Maintaining an ergonomic posture while sitting takes a lot of work from our stabiliser muscles, so our body doesn’t sink forward into a slumped sitting position.

A Norwegian study from the year 2017, on the other hand, showed that the risk for getting type 2 diabetes is 17% higher for those who sit for more than 8 hours a day compared to those who sit for less...

Read how to control back problems with your training

As many as 60% of people experience pain in the lower back during their life, and one of the most common causes for the pain is spinal disc herniation. Commonly called slipped disc, these problems are currently very common, both for people who train and for those who don’t. The cause for back pain in everyday life as well as in training is usually the lack of strength and poor activation of the stabiliser muscles as well as lack of mobility in the body.
If our bodies have more strength than stability and mobility, the body won’t be able to withstand the resulting strain. This can be a result of sitting too much or hard training, focusing on too few areas.

You could think of stability and mobility as the basis of good health and fitness. When we have more reserves in these than there is strength in the body, we can train and move safely, knowing the body is capable of handling the...