Whether at a desk, dinner table, or in your automobile, your sitting posture is the most stressful. Some of us sit for hours at a time, creating structural stress that can overwhelm our structural integrity. The key to sitting with the least amount of stress is to maintain the right amount of lower back curve, as it is responsible for keeping our body sitting upright in an active position.

Just the right amount of lumbar curve will bring ease to the entire spine, activate your core abdominal and trunk muscles, relax the shoulders, and effortlessly balance your head over your shoulders. Too much curve in the lower back can jam the joints of your lumbar spine, strain your mid-back, tighten up your shoulder muscles, and cause neck strain and pain by causing too much curve to in your neck. Too little curve in your lower back increases the strain on your entire structural system, overworks your muscles, ligaments and tendons, and reduces the fluid movements that are inherently present when your spinal curves are in tact.

To achieve the optimal sitting posture begin by sitting comfortably in a straight back chair or on a stool with your thighs parallel to the floor, your legs bent at a 90-degree angle, and your feet flat on the floor.

Rock your pelvis forward until you reach the area of maximum lower back curve. In most cases involving lower back pain, people usually rest in a position of maximum lumbar curve without even realizing it. This position jams the joints in the lumbar spine and strains the muscles of the lower back, especially when the arms are raised, as when doing computer work or washing dishes. So, locate the point of maximum lumbar curve, but only for a moment.

Next, find the minimum lumbar curve by rocking the pelvis backward, reaching the position where the lumbar curve is completely lost. The optimal lower back curve is attained by reaching a balanced position that lies between the maximum and minimum curves. When this balance point is attained, the abdominals and trunk muscles become actively engaged, the neck becomes relaxed, and the structural stress on the spine is greatly reduced or eliminated completely.

At this point, move your awareness up to your neck, and proceed with the same process used when finding your optimal standing posture: Raise and lower your chin, jut out and tuck in your jaw. Find the balance point between these two extreme neck movements and arrive at the position of ease that lies between them. Gently engage the muscles on the front side of the neck as you did with your abdominal muscles.

Become aware of the ease that results from this aligned sitting posture compared with the stress and tension that are usually produced by sitting.

Check in with your sitting posture several times throughout the day and make the appropriate changes. With practice, the correct sitting posture will soon become second nature.