Sitting upright for long hours hurts back

A new form of magnetic resonance imaging has revealed that the spine undergoes a lot of strain, leading to chronic pain, if a person sits upright in a position for long hours.

The new study, conducted at Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen, Scotland, has found that a 135-degree body-thigh sitting posture was demonstrated to be the best biomechanical sitting position, as opposed to a 90-degree posture, which most people consider normal."

"Sitting in a sound anatomic position is essential, since the strain put on the spine and its associated ligaments over time can lead to pain, deformity and chronic illness," Waseem Amir Bashir, author and clinical fellow, department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging, University of Alberta Hospital, Canada said.

Identifying bad seating postures and helping people take preventive measures to protect the spine could reduce strain on the back, he said.

The study was presented at the annual conclave of the Radiological Society of North America.

The researcher studied 22 healthy volunteers with no back pain or surgery under a positional MRI machine.

This new MRI device, unlike the traditional scanners which requires patients to lie flat, allows them freedom of motion; such as sitting or standing, during imaging, in the process reducing chances of pain being masked, he added.