In this video, Danielle shows you how to sit properly on a couch so your back doesn’t hurt over time. Learn some of the tools and ways you can be pain free and comfortable!
Video Transcript
Speaker 1: (00:00)
Hi, I’m Danielle Vernon. Your back PT Ergonomist. I’d like to talk to you today about back pain, sciatic pain, and your sofa and how this can be improved with a thoracic cushion. The big question is how to treat your back pain, especially when you’re sitting on a sofa. Oftentimes our sofas are soft and cushy, which makes it really nice and comfortable, but they don’t really do anything posturally to support us to help you understand this. I’m going to show you through a spine model, which can give us a better idea about the structures that are stressed when you’re sitting on the couch. So when you sit on the couch, the pelvis tends to roll forward, which makes you lose the curve in your low back. Your upper back starts to flex and your head starts to go forward. Does this look familiar to anybody? Right?
Speaker 1: (00:53)
So comfy. Yes, but not if you have back pain. So how do we address this, this C curve that we want to get out of? It’s a lot of stress on the nerves and the discs. So in order to decrease that, we want to give us that nice S curve back, which means bringing the pelvis back underneath us, having some support through the low, back into the upper back so that our head can then be balanced back over our shoulders and our hips. And we can do that with a thoracic cushion. The thoracic cushion sits nice and tight above the pelvis, right above the belt line helps to give you that support that you need so that our spine can go back into that. Nice S-curve that you see?
Speaker 1: (01:48)
So having an S curve in our spine is what nature intended to be able to take the pressure off of all those structures in between the vertebrae and the backbone cushion, which is drastic support can help by giving support, right where it’s needed. And up along the spine to create a nice long alignment, neutral position of your head over your shoulders. It mimics the curves of your body hugs and holds you in place supports. You’re set up the way it should be and decreases pressure. If you have any questions about the backbone cushion, I’ll make sure to put a link below. What I really like about this cushion in and of itself is that it can be used anywhere. It can be used in the car. It can be used on any type of sofa and chair. And it also comes in a variety of non-slip back and regular backing to it.
Speaker 1: (02:48)
So if you have a dining room chair, you want to move this too. It can also be used there, the curves of the cushion, and you can see outline where the shoulder blades should sit, which means that you get to sit in the sofa with good support, but you’re not rounding forward. Like some other cushions do. The other thing that’s nice about this is that it’s got a midline groove, which helps create a little bit airflow so that while you’re sitting back in it, you’re not getting that sweaty uncomfortable back to it. If you notice there’s several curves and contours, so there’s a convexity that molds into your spine, as well as the cutouts and the width above and below your shoulder blades to help with that all over support. So if you’re having low back pain, sciatica, consider a backbone cushion and sit better. I’m Danielle Vernon and on your back PT.