Did you know?
According to research, More than 54% of Americans who experience lower back pain spend most of their workday sitting.
But you don’t need these statistics to know that sitting too much can aggravate back pain and even cause lumbar pain in the first place.
The good news is:
Lumbar pain from sitting all day can be quite easily prevented and solved, and this post will show you the 5 easiest and best ways to fix office-work-related back pain.
Overview
Key Takeaways
- Slouching or poor posture puts pressure on your spine, discs, and muscles, leading to pain and long-term damage.
- The best sitting posture keeps your back slightly arched, shoulders relaxed, and feet flat on the floor.
- An ergonomic office chair is a must – it supports your back and helps you stay in a healthy sitting position.
- Use a lumbar support cushion or ergonomic chair to help keep good posture throughout the day.
- Take short breaks every hour to stretch or move around – just 30 seconds of stretching can make a difference.
- Try a back traction device to gently stretch and decompress your spine for fast relief.
- Use infrared heat therapy (pads, belts, or massage cushions) to relax muscles, boost circulation, and ease pain while you work.
- A TENS unit sends gentle electrical pulses to block pain signals—great for drug-free, all-day relief.
Why Does Sitting Too Much Cause Low Back Pain?
Sitting for long periods – especially in an office chair – puts your body in a static, unnatural posture. This leads to:
- Increased pressure on your lower back muscles and spinal discs
- Strain on your shoulders, neck, arms, and legs
- A tendency to slouch, which overstretches spinal ligaments and stresses nearby nerves and discs
Over time, this poor posture doesn’t just cause discomfort—it can lead to chronic back pain and long-term damage to your spine.
What the Research Says:
Studies have shown that prolonged sitting can directly contribute to chronic low back pain and disability.
It causes muscle tightening, reduced blood circulation, and general physical deconditioning – all of which make the pain worse over time.
If your lower back pain radiates into your legs or buttocks, it may be a sign of:
- A pinched nerve
- Sciatica
- Or a bulging/herniated disc
Below you’ll find 5 effective and natural ways to prevent back pain from sitting, that won’t require much effort.
How Can You Prevent Lower Back Pain from Sitting?
When you want to get rid of posture-related low back pain, you’ll have to pay attention to your sitting posture and your chair, and start using a few very helpful tools to relieve your pain naturally and fast.
Here’s how to get into the best sitting posture for your back:
1. Sit at the edge of your chair and slouch completely.
2. Draw yourself up and accentuate the curve of your back as much as you can, and hold there for 2 seconds.
3. Now, release the position slightly
4. Rest your elbows and arms on your chair or desk, keeping your shoulders relaxed.
You are now sitting in the best posture for your back.
Remember:
You have to keep your hips and knees at a right angle (use a footrest or stool if your chair is too high). Your legs should not be crossed, and your feet should be flat on the floor.
The problem is:
This takes time to get used to, and when we work, we tend to forget about it and unknowingly slouch back to our usual posture.
The solution:
Either use a good lumbar back support cushion (like this one) or get a good ergonomic office chair (like this one) to help you keep the right sitting posture for the entire workday.
Stretching/Back Traction to Relieve Lower Back Pain
Studies suggest that lumbar traction can improve pain and functional status in people with chronic low back pain.
No matter how great your sitting posture and how excellent your chair is, you have to take a few breaks from sitting during the day (at least once an hour).
Use this break to perform a good stretch to relieve your pain, and here are the 2 best options:
A Simple 30-Second Stretch
- Sit in your chair, making sure your sitting bones are firmly in contact with the chair. Keep your feet flat on the floor and placed wide apart.
- Sit up tall and then slowly slide your hands down your legs until you reach the floor. Visualize rolling down one joint at a time, head first.
- Breathe into the stretch and try to slide slightly further down. Hold for 30 seconds.
- Repeat three times.
Also, take a look at the best spine decompression exercises you can do at home.
Use a Back Traction Device
For a more powerful stretch, I recommend bringing a compact, portable back traction device to your office space.
Lumbar traction, which is pulling the top half of your body and the bottom half away from each other, can bring instant and lasting lumbar pain relief.
When you do back traction, your aching muscles get a chance to relax, and you take a bit of the pressure off your discs.
If you want to take the first stretch to a higher level, without worrying whether you’re doing it right, use the CoreStretch tool:
One more back traction option, which can be great in your workspace, is the True Back traction device:
The True Back stretcher is a portable and compact lower back lumbar traction device, and is easy to use. No assembly is needed, and no parts can ever break down.
You simply lie on the device, and the 30 suspension points molded into the center rails support your body weight and create pressure on the muscles on each side of the spine.
This pressure allows the muscles to completely relax, which increases blood flow.
It decompresses your spine, and you are passively stretching in opposite directions while being supported in the correct position.
See the full list of the best spinal decompression home devices in 2025 – reviewed and compared!
Infrared Light Therapy
If you want to relieve your pain while you sit and work uninterrupted, infrared therapy is one of your best options.
Infrared therapy has been shown to ease chronic lower back pain safely, without causing any side effects.
Infrared heat penetrates deep into your muscles, up to 4 cm into your tissues, increasing local blood circulation and bringing pain-relieving and healing components faster.
Through our experience, here are the 3 best options:
1. Shiatsu infrared heat cushion – Using an infrared heat cushion, combined with infrared heat, is an effective way to relieve lumbar pain without interrupting your work.
For example, this infrared cushion has 6 deep-kneading rotating nodes with soothing infrared heat and has a car adapter.
2. Jade Infrared belt – This Jade infrared heat belt (with negative ions) can be wrapped around your lower back comfortably and is made of high-quality materials.
It comes with a digital controller and a timer, and it’s perfect if you don’t like massage and just want to enjoy the deeply penetrating and soothing heat to relieve your back pain.
Do not use infrared heat belts if you are pregnant or suffer from a serious health condition without consulting your doctor.
3. Infrared heating pad – to cover your entire back or your lower back and legs (for sciatica), use a small-medium infrared heating pad. We recommend the UTK pads, but you can compare the best infrared heating pads for back pain, too.
Use a TENS Unit for Back Pain
TENS units are one of the most popular drug-free, non-invasive, and non-addictive ways to continuously relieve back pain whenever and wherever you need to.
A TENS unit (an electric stimulation unit) delivers low-voltage, non-painful electrical pulses via electrodes placed directly onto the skin around the area of pain.
These pulses control pain signals in the body, creating temporary (from 5 minutes to 18 hours) relief from pain.
Studies have proven that using a TENS unit can really help lower back pain, without medication.
Small, wireless TENS machines allow you to use your TENS unit with a remote control – without attaching any wires to the electrodes, and without any wires hanging out of your pocket – perfect for office use.
Switch to an Ergonomic Office Chair
One of the most important things to change when your back hurts from sitting is your work chair.
The National Institute of Health recommends choosing a chair with all of the necessary adjustments to support proper posture.
Lower back support in an ergonomic chair is very important.
Sitting for long periods of time without supporting the inward curve of your back causes slouching (which flattens this natural curve) and causes strain to the low back muscles.
See the best-rated ergonomic office chairs in 2025, or learn how to turn your chair into an ergonomic back-supporting chair.
How to Prevent Back Pain When Standing Up After Sitting
To prevent back pain when standing up after a long time, first move to the front of the seat of your chair.
- Stand up by straightening your legs.
- Use your leg muscles to push yourself up, rather than relying on your back.
- Avoid bending forward at your waist.
- Then, immediately stretch your back by doing 10 standing back bends (gently!).
To your health and happiness,
The Back Pain Relief Products Team
Studies
Daneshmandi H, Choobineh A, Ghaem H, Karimi M. Adverse Effects of Prolonged Sitting Behavior on the General Health of Office Workers. J Lifestyle Med. 2017 Jul;7(2):69-75. doi: 10.15280/jlm.2017.7.2.69. Epub 2017 Jul 31. PMID: 29026727; PMCID: PMC5618737.
Barone Gibbs B, Hergenroeder AL, Perdomo SJ, Kowalsky RJ, Delitto A, Jakicic JM. Reducing sedentary behaviour to decrease chronic low back pain: the stand back randomised trial. Occup Environ Med. 2018 May;75(5):321-327. doi: 10.1136/oemed-2017-104732. Epub 2018 Jan 12. Erratum in: Occup Environ Med. 2018 Jun;75(6):474. doi: 10.1136/oemed-2017-104732corr1. PMID: 29330230; PMCID: PMC8283944.
Tanabe H, Akai M, Doi T, Arai S, Fujino K, Hayashi K; for Low back-pain Traction Therapy (LTT) Study. Immediate effect of mechanical lumbar traction in patients with chronic low back pain: A crossover, repeated measures, randomized controlled trial. J Orthop Sci. 2021 Nov;26(6):953-961. doi: 10.1016/j.jos.2020.09.018. Epub 2021 Mar 27. PMID: 33785233.
Gale GD, Rothbart PJ, Li Y. Infrared therapy for chronic low back pain: a randomized, controlled trial. Pain Res Manag. 2006 Autumn;11(3):193-6. doi: 10.1155/2006/876920. PMID: 16960636; PMCID: PMC2539004.
DeSantana JM, Walsh DM, Vance C, Rakel BA, Sluka KA. Effectiveness of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation for treatment of hyperalgesia and pain. Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2008 Dec;10(6):492-9. doi: 10.1007/s11926-008-0080-z. PMID: 19007541; PMCID: PMC2746624.
