Sitting at a desk for hours on end can lead to a hunched back, ultimately causing pain and numbness from an unwanted spinal curve. — dpa
You may do it unconsciously when you sit for long periods, i.e. hunch your shoulders and bend your back.
Over time, this posture can shorten muscles in your back, causing painful stiffness and giving your spine an excessive forward curve.
Known medically as kyphosis, the condition at an advanced stage may pinch nerves running through your spine, resulting in tingling or numbness in your arms and legs, says orthopaedist Dr David Kubosch.
There are ways to prevent kyphosis, and he recommends two exercises familiar to yoga practitioners that can help.
They’re particularly useful for people who put in long hours at a desk or frequently work in a stooped position:
Exercise 1: Child’s pose
A good way to start keeping your back muscles from shortening is to stretch your latissimus dorsi (”lats”) – a broad, flat muscle that covers the lower two-thirds of the trunk – two or three times a week.
You can do this with the child’s pose, called Balasana in yoga.
Kneel on the floor and sit back on your heels.
Lean forward, lowering your torso, and stretch your arms straight in front of you as far as possible with your palms on the floor.
Hold this position for 30 seconds.
Then slowly return to the seated position, and repeat.
Exercise 2: Cat/cow stretch
In yoga, it’s called Chakravakasana.
Get on your hands and knees, with your hands shoulder-width apart, knees directly below your hips and spine straight.
Now go into the cat pose: “Arch your back as much as possible, your head hanging loosely,” Dr Kubosch says.
Hold for about five seconds, then straighten your spine again.
Now go into the cow pose.
Tilt your pelvis upward, letting your belly sink and spine curve inward to form a hollow.
Lift your head and look straight in front of you.
Dr Kubosch recommends holding this pose for about five seconds as well, and repeating both poses 10 times.
At the first symptoms of kyphosis, such as constant back pain and stiffness, he advises seeing a doctor.
Treatment for kyphosis depends on the degree of the abnormal curvature, but exercise is always a component.
While it’s difficult to get rid of with exercise alone, Dr Kubosch says, well-trained and well-stretched back and chest muscles ease the symptoms. So physiotherapy is very important.
Some ergonomic tweaks to your workplace can be a part of treatment as well.
In more serious cases, the doctor may prescribe a back brace.
If pain is severe and accompanied by neurological problems, surgery may be needed – typically, spinal fusion.
It involves straightening the vertebrae causing the curvature using metal rods and screws, and fusing them into place with bone grafts.
Kyphosis can usually be treated conservatively though, says Dr Kubosch – in other words, without surgery. – dpa
