Sitting Bones

What Are Sitting Bones?

If you want to learn proper and natural seated posture, you should get familiar with the sitting bones. Also called the sit bone or sitz bone, this paired feature's proper name is the ischial tuberosity (tuber ischiadicum). It is a protruding part of the ischium, a strong bone that forms the bottom of the pelvis. Many muscles of the leg and pelvis area attach to the sitting bones.

Vizualizace kostry člověka se zvýrazněnou sedací kostí.
The sitting bones are a part of the ischium. Many muscles of the leg and pelvis area attach here. Graphic from Wikiskripta (article in Czech).

How Do I Find My Sitting Bones?

Sit down on a chair and place your hands under your buttocks, palms up. This may sound like a guide to finding your butt with both hands, but bear with us: Now, slowly tilt your pelvis forward and back. As you do, you should feel a definite bump of a bony protrusion passing under your palm. That's your sit bone. The more they press into your palm, the more you're sitting directly on them – and that's the first secret of healthy sitting.

Proper Seated Posture

We've prepared a simple video guide for properly sitting down on your sitting bones.

Further Reading