Many people have jobs that require prolonged periods of sitting at a desk. While at your desk, you may practice poor posture. Poor desk posture typically involves sitting with your shoulders slumped and your back rounded. If you maintain poor posture for a significant period of time, you can experience several adverse effects.
Poor Circulation
If you don't sit with your back straight, you are compressing parts of your spine. This compression leads to a lack of blood supply to the vertebrae in your spinal column. This lack of blood supply can cause degeneration of the intervertebral disc and eventually cause you to experience bouts of back pain.
Fluid Loss
Sitting for long periods of time at a desk and maintaining bad posture can cause fluid loss in the spine. The pressure that you place on your back by sitting improperly prevents fluid and nutrients from entering the area. The connective tissue can go through structural changes due to the fluid loss, and the changes may be irreversible. This can distort your appearance permanently, so that you look as though you have a "hunchback." To reverse the condition, you may need to undergo back surgery.
Increased Chance of Injury
Sitting poorly at your desk gives you a heightened risk of injuring the back. Placing pressure on the spine can cause more wear and tear of the area. If an injury is sustained, there may be more damage than if you had sit properly. This could lead to the possible need for back surgery to repair your spine.
Chronic Pain
Poor desk posture can cause pain not only in the back but also in the neck and shoulders. It also puts you at a higher risk of developing problems like headache and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain. The chronic pain may make you reliant on over-the-counter pain relievers, like ibuprofen and acetaminophen. When you are in a neutral position, you are not putting any pressure on the area and will not feel the discomfort associated with bad posture.
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