Low back pain is a common complaint for people attending physiotherapy. Quite often the pain is worsened with prolonged positions, especially sitting. This may be sitting at the office, at home or driving.
All soft tissue is subject to ‘creep’, which is a gradual stretch of the tissue in prolonged positions. An important part of the ‘creep’ phenomenon is that the tissue does not immediately go back to its normal state. This ‘creep’ is thought to cause stress and inflammation to the tissue.
This was researched here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12832168
Our body is designed for movement, so no matter how good your chair is or how good your posture is you need to get up and move. It is recommended that at a minimum we should get up every 30 minutes.
Attached is a link from WorkSafe BC, which is a timer that can be installed onto your computer that reminds you to get up and get moving:
http://www2.worksafebc.com/Topics/Ergonomics/Resources-office.asp