Effects of Sitting Combatted by Easley Exercise and Not Sitting!
“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You have surely heard it. Young Chiropractic sees the effects of sitting in our Easley chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain and related issues. Let us explore sitting and being sedentary workers and what our options might be.
SITTING COMPARISON TO SMOKING
Is the sitting and smoking a little harsh? Maybe. One medical report stated that 300 news articles mention this claim! (1) Harsh or not, it does highlight the issue that sitting a lot is not healthy for anyone. 25% of adults including Easley chiropractic patients and adults sit more than 8 hours a day. Older adults are said to sit even more. (2) Young Chiropractic knows we all sit. We are not shaming you! We’re with you!
THE STATE OF NSCLBP in SEDENTARY WORKERS
Sitting is what we do. Researchers document that the activity level of low back pain suffers is low. Of 300 patients, 32.5% lead sedentary lives, 48.5% live underactive lifestyles, and 68.3% of them did not do any activity to enhance muscle strength or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting presented a risk for all-cause mortality unrelated to physical activity even if it is of moderate to vigorous effort. The best suggestion is to reduce the quantity of sitting not just boost physical activity levels. (4) Young Chiropractic urges both, too!
WHAT CAN WE DO? EXERCISE (AND A BONUS: RESPIRATION IMPROVEMENT)
One author opined the conundrum of the “exercise to buffer sitting’s effect” suggestion as an “inconvenient truth”: a few weekly visits to the gym isn’t able to really wipe away a lifetime of sitting. He also contended that fixing the sitting issue by standing has its own problems (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 plus endurance in stabilizing musculature – showed better improvement in pain relief and better function particularly in the lumbar multifidus and transversus abdominus which are two muscles that low back pain bothers. (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 effective and lasted for 12 weeks. (7) A bonus to lumbar segmental stabilization exercise is that it activated the deep muscles and enhanced respiratory function and pressure in chronic low back pain patient who experienced segmental instability. (8) Respiration is important! Another study showed that forced breathing exercise therapy effectively enhanced trunk stability and daily living activities in chronic low back pain patients, particularly for those with chronic lumbago in whom these exercises reduced pain. (9) Exercise works! It is not everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a part of the solution.
CONTACT Young Chiropractic
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 Easley chiropractic appointment with Young Chiropractic today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines you and back pain makes matters worse, Easley chiropractic care is for you…together with striving to not sit so much and exercising a bit more!
