Why Does Your Lower Back Hurt After Sitting All Day?

Gary Choit

Aug 22

2 min read

Updated: Aug 26

A ProVital Physiotherapy Guide

Ever sat at your desk for hours, only to get up and feel stiffness, aching or discomfort in your lower back? Lower back pain is often caused by sitting for too long, especially if you stay in the same position for an extended period of time.

The idea that “not moving” means your muscles are not active is a complete misconception. Your muscles are working to support your body and keep you upright even when you’re sitting still. Staying in one position for a long period of time can cause muscle fatigue, stiffness and increased stress around the lower back.

As we sit, the hips stay bent and movement through the spine and hips is limited. Over time, this lack of movement can make your back feel stiff and achy, especially when you stand up or start moving.

Office worker, prolonged sitting all day. Neck Pain, Shoulder pain

What Muscles Are Involved?

Several muscles can contribute to sitting-related lower back discomfort. Those muscles are:

Erector spinae
Multifidus
Quadratus lumborum
Hip flexors
Gluteal muscles.

For example, your lower back muscles help stabilize your spine when sitting, while your hip flexors remain in a shortened state. Meanwhile, your glutes are relatively inactive compared with when you're standing or walking. When these muscles are kept in the same position for hours, fatigue and stiffness can develop.

What Can You Do About It?

The easiest solution is to move more often. Try standing up, walking around or changing your sitting position every 30–60 minutes.

There is no “perfect” sitting posture. Instead, regular movement and changing positions throughout the day are key.

Regularly exercising your core, back and gluteal muscles helps to strengthen and improve hip mobility, which ultimately helps manage the pain as well.

Low back pain at work after sitting all day. Best posture is your next posture

How Can Physiotherapy Help?

At ProVital Physiotherapy, we assess your individual movement, muscle strength, mobility and daily activities to understand what may be contributing to your lower back pain.

Our goal is to help you understand your condition, improve your movement and build the strength and confidence to return to your daily activities.

If your lower back regularly hurts after sitting all day, don't just put up with it. A physiotherapy assessment can help identify the contributing factors and guide you towards the right treatment.

References

Bontrup, C., Taylor, W. R., Fliesser, M., Visscher, R., Green, T., Wippert, P.-M., & Zemp, R. (2019). Low back pain and its relationship with sitting behaviour among sedentary office workers. Applied Ergonomics, 81, 102894. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2019.102894

George, S. Z., Fritz, J. M., Silfies, S. P., Schneider, M. J., Beneciuk, J. M., Lentz, T. A., Gilliam, J. R., Hendren, S., Norman, K. S., Beattie, P. F., Bishop, M. D., Goertz, C., Hunter, S., Olson, K. A., Rundell, S. D., Schmidt, M., Shepard, M., & Vining, R. (2021). Interventions for the management of acute and chronic low back pain: Revision 2021. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 51(11), CPG1–CPG60. https://doi.org/10.2519/jospt.2021.0304

World Health Organization. (2023). WHO guideline for non-surgical management of chronic primary low back pain in adults in primary and community care settings. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240081789