The office worker's guide to a pain-free back

If your back is fine at 9am and aching by 6pm, you are in good company. Desk work is quietly hard on the spine, and most of the advice out there is either too vague ("sit up straight") or too extreme. This is the practical, kind version.

Sitting loads the spine more than standing, and it switches off the muscles that are meant to support you. The hip flexors at the front shorten and tug your pelvis out of line, the lower back rounds, and the discs stay squashed for hours. Multiply that by years and you get the familiar stiffness so many desk workers carry.

Stand up and walk for a minute or two every half hour - movement is what your spine is missing, not a perfect chair. Let your gaze come up so you are not folding toward the screen. Open your hips now and then, since they tighten faster than anything from sitting. None of this cures a sore back, but it stops you digging the hole deeper.

All the good habits in the world still leave the spine carrying a full day of compression. That is where decompression comes in. In Gravity Stretching you hang in suspension straps and let your own weight gently lengthen the spine - the exact opposite of what sitting did to it all day.

Because the straps hold you and there is nowhere to fall, the body stops bracing and lets go. People often stand up afterward feeling taller and lighter, simply because the pressure that built up since morning has been released.

The desk workers who do best treat decompression as a regular rhythm rather than an emergency call when the back finally screams. Little and often, each at their own pace. The body learns, and starts wanting to sit and move better on its own.

If sitting is wearing your back down, come let it lengthen. Find a Gravity Stretching studio near you and try a session with a trainer.

And a gentle reminder: this is wellness, not medical treatment. If you have a back diagnosis, are pregnant, or have any condition you are unsure about, talk to your doctor first and tell your trainer so we keep things gentle.