Karla’s thread had a whopping 378.6k likes at the time of writing and more than 28.5k people retweeted it. The amount of attention the post got just goes to show that more teachers tend to act the same way than we realized!

But why do teachers lean like this? One explanation could be that desks are positioned at a weird height and teachers have no other choice but to lean like they’re in the middle of a ballet warm-up. Another reason could be back pain.

Teachers spend extended amounts of time standing and sitting and this can cause back problems if there’s not enough movement and variation between the two. In addition to standing, they have to keep bending down to help their students. The issue is especially prevalent among primary school teachers because the desks are far smaller.

So leaning in a weird way can be some teachers’ attempt to reduce the strain on their backs. Something else that can help protect their health is having standing or proper-sized desks for students to work at.

Choosing to sit on a high stool instead of standing for hours on end can also remove part of the strain. This upside is better back health; the downside is seeing less awesome leaning pictures on the net.