Sitting Down on the Job

Categories: Blog Oct 29, 2017

And now, a guest post from Richard Macaulay, OS Level 2 Coach – In SCOTLAND!

I attended the OS Pro workshop this year in Monterey, California (a truly amazing experience). In this workshop one of our tutors (Tim) mentioned that the average American sits up to 13 hours a day. This is a staggering fact and one I am sure is matched here in Scotland.

As we are and were designed to move I can understand where a lot of our problems come from (obesity issues, lack of mobility etc), but if I am honest I don’t just see this as a matter of ‘sitting too much’. I actually think it more to do with ‘sitting incorrectly’. We sit hunched, our heads poking forwards and over time we suffer from weak glutes, rhomboids, tight hip flexors etc. I wonder why we start to suffer from neck pain, back pain, poor posture etc. 

Sitting is a vital component in our developmental movement journey. As an infant we breathed, we gained head control, we rolled, we rocked, we crawled and we walked – but in the midst of all that we sat up. We surveyed the world around us,making conscious designs about the places we wanted to go to and the noises, smells, sights that we found enticing. 

Before we really fully explored rocking and certainly before crawling and walking, we had been sitting. There are a myriad of ways to sit, but these were often slight variations of sitting upright with legs slightly bent out in front of us or in what is essentially a shin box position – with our hands on and off the floor as we learnt to place our hands out, bear weight through our wrists, elbows and shoulders. 

The shin box position is a hugely beneficial and often overlooked sitting position which will do wonders for our lost mobility/strength and will open door into further more challenging sitting and moving positions.

I often sit on the floor and play with my son – knights, lego, train tracks etc. I noticed that he will sit in a shin box position for prolonged periods of time whilst reaching and playing with things. He will fluidly move out of this position into asquat/lunge and back into it with liquid like ease. Of course I try and mimic this and it makes me wonder – who is the teacher, who is the student?

Whilst sitting in this position we are sitting in both external and internal hip rotation (front leg external – back leg internal). Working on external and internal hip rotation is vital if we want to maintain fluidity in movement, undo the work from sitting on the couch, in the car, at work – as well as improving our squat depth and alleviating a great deal of discomfort that can originate in our hips but present itself in our lower back/knees etc. 

Try the shin box movement:

I progress this exactly the same way as my son does. He gets up from this position and moves onto the next game etc. He does this by lifting his hips to the ceiling and making himself as tall as possible. He then brings his back leg through (into a lunge type position) and stands up fully. 

Movement heals us - movement frees us from pain, from physical restrictions. Moving around is essential for our health. We have all sat and enjoyed a sunset, fireworks, a beach picnic. Sitting is almost inevitable – what we can do is choose how we sit. We shouldn’t feel bad for doing it, but we can use it as an opportunity to work on our movement weaknesses. 

Nothing humbles me more than watching my son move around. It is a joy to watch him develop and grow and move with more fluidity, speed, strength. Sitting has been and continues to be a part of his journey. Through watching him I have learned how to use sitting positions to transition from one type of movement to the next. 

Richard Macauley

Richard is an OS level 2 coach (the only one in the United Kingdom and Ireland). He co-owns bodycarewecare with his wife Karen in Scotland. Their philosophy has always been about movement, food and fun. In his 12 year career Richard has been fortunate enough to work with business men/women and now spends most of his time working with youth rugby players and performance athletes on the representative ladder working towards international honours.

In his free time Richard in a devoted family man with two children. Richard came to OS after a bad back injury and has found true joy which training brings him through physical well being. To learn about Richard go to www.bodycarewecare.com

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