Sit, Kneel, Stand

In order to live a life in chronic back pain, I have had to adapt various methods to alleviate the strain on my low back.

One way I have done this is when I am at work in front of a screen, I alternate between sitting in a chair, kneeling on the ground, and standing at the standing desk. I recommend anyone that works at a computer (ie. everyone) to do the same. You will come to find in time that your flexibility, your posture, and your overall well-being are greatly increased.

There is a couple that uses no furniture (besides desks and floor mats) on Youtube where I got the idea to sit on the floor more often and practice working on my flexibility.

I set a simple timer on my desk to 20 minutes, stand up when it goes off, and then kneel when it goes off again. In a three hour session of work, I will take each position 3 times. In between the transitions, I do pushups, squats, and pullups.

Example: Start your work day sitting, and set a 20 minute timer. Once it goes off, stand up, lift the desk or kneel, do 20 pushups/pullups/squats - and then resume work. Every hour, you will go through three different stances (kneeling, sitting, standing) and will have done 60 reps of exercise.

In an 8 hour day, you will have done 480 repetitions and have stood for a third of the time.

You will notice within a week a MASSIVE difference in your hip mobility and your lower back will no longer be stiff.

Add in a pullup bar in a doorway, and you will feel like you did as a child again!

The big consideration for anyone that is looking to have less pain in their lives is to move as much as possible, change up your positions (so even if you are sitting on a chair, cross/un-cross your legs, lean back and forward etc.), and stretch with an emphasis on resistance training.

You will come to see that your body will thank you for it and your ability to focus will increase.

As your body levels up, so too will your thinking.

Try it out and let me know your results after a week - email me here

This is the first post in my series about how I live in chronic pain and how you too can live a life that has less pain and more joy.