More and more I have become aware of 'naughty' sofa and chairs, they feel so comfy as you slouch, then when you come to stand up you feel like your lower back is locked. Imagine this posture day in, day out, it means that our natural 'core' muscles that naturally hold us up, which we learnt as toddlers, starts to become weaker and weaker. Fast forward to older age and we have a permanent 'slouch' in the lower back and probably a stiff one at that, maybe achy and quite possibly with sciatica.
So how to help it? Mindful sitting! ... The more we become aware of sitting correctly, the stronger our front and back centre muscles work to keep us there, which means a stronger core and a bad habit broken.
Ideally speaking we should look for our 'neutral' spine in a sitting position, this is where the ribs are evenly stacked on top of the pelvis - not behind it and that we are sitting on our sit-bones evenly.
So next time you sit on the sofa you can arrange yourself so that there are firm cushions or a lumbar roll behind you to ensure your ribs evenly line up above your pelvis. When you sit in the car or on the train try this too, you will instantly feel your core muscles kick in to keep you there. It's even possible to buy ergonomic sofas now which sound like a great idea, a good tip also is to sit on a pilates ball which forces you to sit up straight.
Try doing a pilates class at least once a week too, this will help move all the vertebral joints of the spine safely in all planes of movement and will help to strengthen the core support muscles!