How to Achieve the Best Sitting Posture on Floor for a Stronger Spine
Dec 10, 2024
Many of us spend our days flopped over desks, slouched on the couch, and hunched over our phones. We may be comfortable in these positions, but they are unsuitable for our posture or spinal health. As a result, we may have nagging aches and pains that can affect our daily lives and productivity. Sitting on the floor provides an excellent alternative to these common positions by reducing the likelihood of developing poor posture. However, adopting the best sitting posture on the floor is essential to reap the benefits and avoid any discomfort. This article will outline the best sitting posture exercises on the floor and help you correct your position to improve your spinal health, enhance your comfort levels, and boost your posture.
When it comes to achieving your goals, Posture AI’s posture correction app can be a valuable resource to help you adopt the best sitting posture on the floor. The app offers personalized feedback as you practice your sitting position to help you reach your objectives faster.
Table of Contents
Is Sitting On The Floor Good For You?
Sitting on chairs all day isn't just uncomfortable—it's bad for your health. Research suggests that this modern habit can shorten your lifespan. Sitting on the floor instead, as humans have done for thousands of years, can help reverse our body's natural deterioration from prolonged chair sitting.
The Connection Between Ground Sitting and Longevity
Research shows that a person's ability to get up off the ground is one of the best indicators of their overall health and longevity. One study found that the better people performed on a sit-and-rise test, the more likely they were to survive an average of six years of follow-up.
This ground-based movement reflects overall fitness, as it requires:
Balance
Stability
Mobility in the hips, legs, and core
Floor Mobility
When you can quickly get up off the ground, you’re less likely to suffer a debilitating injury if you fall, and you’re also expected to be in better all-around health. So, practicing ground sitting and rising from the floor without assistance can improve longevity.
Why Aren’t We Sitting on the Ground More?
Chairs are a relatively recent invention in human history. This modern design has significantly changed our behavior, as evidenced by the work of University of California, Berkeley Professor Dr. Galen Cranz.
Ground Living
For most of history, people spent a lot more time:
Sitting
Resting
Sleeping on the ground
Today, two-thirds of the world still avoids using chairs altogether. It’s no coincidence that populations like the Chinese exhibit 80 to 90 percent less hip arthritis than Westerners.
Kids Are Ground-Sitting Experts
Children sit on the ground all the time. They have to learn how to move and navigate the world. Kids 12 to 19 months old have been documented getting up off the ground 17 times an hour—over 100 times a day! As adults, we can have the same ability to stand without aid as long as we sit without chairs.
Ground Sitting Can Improve Your Posture
Sitting on the floor instead of a chair can help improve your posture. That’s because ground sitting promotes better spinal alignment. When you sit on the floor, you engage different muscle groups than when you sit in a chair. This activates the core and lower body muscles that help stabilize and support your spine. The more you sit on the ground, the better your body gets at these essential movements—and the less likely you are to suffer from pesky problems like lower back pain.
There are Many Ways to Sit on the Ground
Sitting on the floor doesn’t only have to be sitting with your legs crossed. There are no wrong ways to ground sit. The best place to start is under your feet. You’ll probably find that the evening after dinner is the easiest time for some ground-sitting. Instead of sitting on your couch, sit in front of it—in any good shape. You can even do so while you eat. Sitting on the floor while eating has potential benefits, such as improved digestion.
You Can Even Work on the Ground
Regarding human performance, sitting and working on the ground for short periods during the day was built-in hip and leg tissue mobilization. One can even find an inexpensive laptop tray made by our friends at Varidesk, making working on the floor easy.
Ground Restoration
Sitting on the floor may not only be a shortcut to better squat mechanics. Physician and author Phillip Beach’s book Muscles and Meridians postulates that one way the complex human body tunes itself is through ground-based resting postures. He suggests that our bodies have long used ground-based sitting, working, and resting shapes and positions to restore native mechanics and movement abilities Physician and author Phillip Beach’s book Muscles and Meridians postulates that one way.
The Sit-and-Rise Test
Stand with one foot crossed in front of the other in an area free of debris. Without holding on to anything (unless you feel unsteady), bend your knees and lower yourself to the floor until you’re sitting cross-legged. From the same cross-legged position, lean forward with your hands outstretched for balance and rise off the floor—if possible, without placing your hands or knees on the floor or using anything else for support. You get a gold star if you can both sit down and rise straight up from the cross-legged position without assistance.
Assisted Rise
That shows you have essential baseline hip flexibility. But it’s also okay to use an assist. Place a hand (or two) on the ground, roll forward onto your knees to brace yourself, and even grab onto the back of your couch. Just being able to get up is valuable. There’s no disgrace in not doing well or even failing this test. You probably don't get up off the floor every day, so why should you expect to be good at it? But once you start floor sitting regularly (which means you’ll have to practice getting up, too), you will be.
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How to Achieve the Best Sitting Posture on Floor
If you have decided to try floor sitting, some sitting positions are better than others. Dr. Cavanaugh explained that sitting with your legs folded underneath your body and the tops of your feet on the floor, sometimes called seiza, is considered one of the best positions because it helps maintain proper spinal alignment. Leaning back against a wall or cushion can help support your lower back while keeping the spine neutral. “I highly recommend sitting on the floor with your back against a wall to ensure that you are not hunching over,” John Gallucci, Jr, MS, ATC, PT, DPT, a doctor of physical therapy, CEO of JAG-ONE Physical Therapy, and the medical coordinator for the Major League Soccer told Health.
Wall Sitting
“Using the wall as a support, lean your spine against the wall and sit crisscrossed. The benefits of crisscrossed sitting include an increase of range of motion and blood flow, tension release, and it can also improve bowel movement.” Kevin Lees, DC, director of chiropractic operations for The Joint Corp., suggests starting slow. Try sitting for a minute or two at first. As you feel more comfortable, you can build your tolerance and stamina to sit for 20 to 30 minutes, he said.
Floor vs. Chair
“While sitting down doesn’t seem like a hard activity, you may be surprised to find that you are sore after doing so. Start small, in a safe place to practice getting up and down on your own.” It’s also important to keep in mind that sitting on the floor is different from sitting in a chair, and both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Sitting on the floor can be beneficial for:
Posture
Flexibility
Muscular strengthening
Dr. Cavanaugh added that chairs provide more back support and less strain on the neck and spine.
How to Comfortably Sit on the Floor
If you’d like to sit on the floor, try the following sitting positions. It may take some time to discover what’s most comfortable for you.
Kneeling
Kneeling is a common floor position with many variations. To kneel on the floor:
Start standing.
Step one leg behind you.
Shift your weight to the front leg.
Slowly lower your back knee to the ground, keeping your toes on the floor and ankle flexed.
Place your shoulders over your hips.
Lower your front knee to the floor. Place your knees shoulder-width apart.
Rest your buttocks on your heels.
You can place the tops of your ankles on the floor, one by one.
Your buttocks will rest on the soles of your feet, a position called seiza in Japanese culture. To reduce pressure on your knees, you can bend one knee and plant your foot on the floor or kneel on a mat.
Cross-Legged
Another popular floor position is sitting cross-legged. To do it:
Sit on the floor.
Bend both your knees, moving them outward.
Place one foot under the opposite knee.
Shift your weight to your hips instead of your feet.
Place your belly over your hips.
To decrease pressure on your hips, sit on the edge of a folded blanket or place cushions beneath your knees.
Bent Sit
If you have knee or ankle discomfort, try the bent sit:
Sit on the floor.
Bend both your knees, planting your feet on the floor.
Place your feet wider than hip-width apart. A wider stance will prevent you from rounding your back.
Keep your belly over your hips.
Side Sit
From the bent sit, you can move into the side sit or z-sit. This position will stretch your inner thighs:
Start in a bent sit.
Lower both your knees to the right and place them on the floor.
Rest the bottom of your right foot against the front of your left thigh.
Keeping both hips on the floor will help keep your spine neutral.
Repeat in the opposite direction.
Long Sit
The long sit stretches your quad muscles. To sit in this posture:
Sit on the floor.
Extend your legs straight ahead.
Flex your toes, pointing them upward.
Keep your belly over your hips.
Sit on the edge of a folded blanket to avoid rounding your back.
You can also place your legs wider than shoulder-width apart from the long sit. This is called straddle sit.
Squatting
Squatting or the squat sit allows you to move quickly between standing and floor positions. To sit in this posture:
Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
Plant your feet on the floor.
Slowly lower your buttocks until it’s just above the floor.
Keep your shoulders and chest upright.
Knees Up
It's a nice way to chill, and surely you’ve seen many people sit like this in the park or other relaxing, soft-grounded atmospheres. It’s also a good way to gently improve your ability to keep a straight spine with increasing degrees of hip flexion (which is helpful for the squat). Like every other sitting position, it should not be forced to feel like a stretch. Some, like the straddle sit, may feel super stretchy because they are not used to the position, and their muscles (adductors and hamstrings, in that case) are tight.
Gradual Increase
This position is similar to chair sitting, but with your legs a lot closer to your torso, so don't expect to feel much of a stretch. Your ultimate goal should be to work up to sitting on the floor for at least thirty cumulative minutes daily. Start where you’re at. If five minutes feels like all you can do, that’s your starting point. Work up to thirty minutes as you’re able. Once there, you can spend all thirty minutes sitting on the floor doing one thing (like reading the newspaper) or breaking it up.
Daily Integration
Spend ten minutes sitting on the floor while you work on your laptop (there are plenty of adjustable standing desks, floor desks, and low tables on the market that allow you to work on the floor) and another ten as you talk on the phone, and a final ten while you sip a cup of tea. We like to sit on the floor for half an hour while binge-watching the latest must-see show, and we make our kids do it, too.
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Precautions for Properly Sitting on the Floor
Sitting on the floor can have benefits, but it’s crucial to be mindful of how you do it. Sitting on the floor incorrectly can lead to back and neck pain and tightness in the shoulders and hips. While you may be tempted just to plop down next to your office chair, there are a few things to consider first. Dr. Cavanaugh explained that one common mistake is sitting in a twisted position or with one leg tucked underneath the other, which can strain the lower back and cause awkward postures. Another mistake is sitting with a rounded spine, resulting in neck and shoulder tension and lower back pain.
‘Seiza’ Concerns
Even preferred positions, like seiza, may only be helpful for some people, Dr. Gallucci said. “For many, this can reduce blood flow and add tension to the body and joints. The pressure of all your weight on your legs can also cause spider veins.” He recommends sitting in a crisscross position with your back against a wall to avoid this added pressure. Another common mistake is leaning back on your palms, which can cause pain or pressure in your wrists and a loss of muscle activity in your lower back, noted Dr. Lees.
Safe Getting Up
Reclining on your side and propping yourself up with your elbow can cause shoulder pressure and pain and may aggravate back problems after a while. “[When sitting on the floor], make sure you can get up and down comfortably,” he added. “If you question whether you can safely sit or get up, it may be a goal for a later day. Stay near something sturdy that can help you if you lose balance or strength while sitting down or getting up.”
Floor Cushioning
The type of surface you sit on can also affect floor sitting. Because hardwood floors provide less cushioning than carpets and rugs, Dr. Cavanaugh said using a cushion or yoga block for added support and comfort is essential.
Related Reading
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• Exercises for Better Posture
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