“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You’ve
heard it. Chiropractic Care sees the effects of sitting in our
West Palm Beach chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain
and associated issues. Let’s look at
sitting and being sedentary workers and what we can do
about it.
SITTING COMPARISON TO SMOKING
Is the sitting and smoking a little glaring?
Maybe. One medical report uncovered that 300 news articles mention this claim! (1) Harsh or not, it does draw attention to the concern that
sitting a lot is not healthy for anyone. 25% of adults West Palm Beach
chiropractic patients and adults included sit more than 8 hours daily.
Older adults supposedly sit for even more time.
(2) Chiropractic Care knows we all sit. We’re not
shaming you! We are with you!
THE STATE OF NSCLBP in SEDENTARY WORKERS
Sitting is what we do. Researchers tell us
that the activity level of low back pain suffers is low. Of 300 patients, 32.5% live sedentary
lives, 48.5% had underactive lifestyles, and 68.3% of them didn’t do any activity to boost muscle strength
or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting created a risk for
all-cause mortality independent of physical
activity even if it’s of moderate to vigorous effort. The best
suggestion is to reduce the quantity of sitting
not just increase physical activity levels. (4) Chiropractic Care encourages
both, too!
WHAT CAN WE DO? EXERCISE (AND A BONUS: RESPIRATION
IMPROVEMENT)
One author asserted the conundrum
of the “exercise to buffer sitting’s effect” implication as an
“inconvenient truth”: a few weekly trips to the gym
isn’t able to really wipe away a lifetime of sitting. He
also shared that fixing the sitting issue by standing has its
own issues (beyond its being uncomfortable!) like varicose
veins and foot pain. (5) So what then, especially
for low back pain sufferers? Dynamic strengthening exercises – those that focus
on core and global stabilization as well as endurance in stabilizing
musculature – displayed better improvement in pain relief and better
function particularly in the lumbar multifidus and transversus
abdominus which are two muscles that low back pain affects.
(6) More specifically, a 20-week lumbar stabilization exercise
and muscle strengthening exercise program reduced low back pain
and functional disability in sedentary workers. A lumbar stabilization exercise
program was more helpful and lasted
for 12 weeks. (7) A bonus to lumbar segmental stabilization
exercise is that it activated the deep muscles and boosted
respiratory function and pressure in chronic low back pain patient who had
segmental instability. (8) Respiration is a big deal! Another study
showed that forced breathing exercise therapy effectively improved
trunk stability and daily living activities in chronic low back pain patients, particularly
for those with chronic lumbago in whom these exercises decreased
pain. (9) Exercise works! It isn’t
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece
of the puzzle.
CONTACT Chiropractic Care
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Shawn Nelson on The Back Doctors Podcast about The
Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management’s role in back pain
management to help a runner re-gain his stride despite his facet syndrome back
pain condition that bothers us sitting folks.
Schedule you West Palm Beach chiropractic appointment
with Chiropractic Care today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines
you and back pain complicates it, West Palm Beach
chiropractic care is for you…together with striving
to not sit so much and exercising a bit
more!