Proprioception for non-specialists. Part 2: Smooth back sitting for 2 minutes

In the last article, you learned how to find your sense of a smooth back while standing without external reference points, only focusing on proprioceptive signals.

Now is the time to find your level position in the chair. Human posture is not something static that requires strict adherence. The lesson at the end of this article will allow you to acquire one of the skills of dynamic sitting on a chair.

Very often, almost ideally even people come to me at the reception. The initial reaction to them: “What can hurt with such posture? I came to the wrong address - go to another doctor. ”
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In practice, it turns out that a flat back is the only body position in which pains allow this person to move. Equal position is achieved by such a large muscle tension that it is impossible to bend over, turn around, it is easy to sit down and stand up.

At the same time, dozens of curved spins on professional examinations do not bring any concern to their owners at all. Terrible changes in the spine do not give pain without aggravation.

What's the matter? The question is how a person finds his position in space relative to the working environment.

Scoliotic posture for the milling machine or turner, slouching posture for a person working behind a laptop is a functional position that allows you to reduce the load on the body in violation of the requirements of the ergonomics of the workplace. The problem with pain occurs only when a person in one situation maintains the same posture. Overstressed muscles, over time, lead to the appearance of chronic pain.

So, how to find your functionally advantageous position while sitting on a chair, which will be externally evaluated as a “smooth back”?

Lesson - even back sitting for 2 minutes

Sit in the middle of the seat of the chair so that the knee and hip joints form an angle of about 90 °, look at yourself in the mirror or ask to take a picture of yourself in profile.

Situation 1.

Feel the sciatic bones - these are the bones on which the body rests on the seat of the chair in a sitting position. Roll the pelvis back and forth across the chair to better feel this support. Try to determine where the center of gravity of your body is during rolls.

Stop, imagine a vertical plane passing through the ischium, and dividing your body into anterior and posterior parts. Notice how much your body is aligned with this plane (maybe the head is shifted forward or back, maybe there is a deflection in the lower back, maybe the bulging of the thoracic spine and shoulder blades is felt, maybe nothing is felt).

Situation 2.
Slowly and gently try to roll the pelvis forward and back along the chair so that when rolling forward, the center of gravity moves forward from the vertical plane passing through the sciatic bones, and when rolled back, it moves back.

Try to keep a steady arc in the body from the tailbone to the crown when rolling. Each time, reduce the amount of rolls, making sure that the center of gravity moves forward and backward from the vertical plane at the same distance.

As soon as the oscillations of the center of gravity during rolls stop at the neutral point, check your sensations from the new body position, look at yourself in the mirror or ask to take another photo of yourself in profile. Rate the result.

PS In the next article we will analyze one more point of the dynamic sitting skill on a chair. You can find all the somatic lessons on Hiktaimes by clicking on the somatic mark at the end of the article.