“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You have surely
heard it. Palmer Chiropractic Center sees the effects of sitting in our
Lynchburg chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain
and related issues. Let us consider
sitting and being sedentary workers and what we can do
about it.
SITTING COMPARISON TO SMOKING
Is the sitting and smoking a little harsh?
Maybe. One medical report stated that 300 news articles cite this claim! (1) Harsh or not, it does draw attention to the issue that
sitting a lot is not healthy for anyone. 25% of adults including Lynchburg
chiropractic patients and adults sit more than 8 hours daily.
Older adults supposedly sit even more.
(2) Palmer Chiropractic Center realizes 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 report to us
that low back pain
sufferers’ activity levels are low. Of 300 patients, 32.5% lead sedentary
lives, 48.5% live underactive lifestyles, and 68.3% of them didn’t do any activity to boost muscle strength
or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting presented a risk for
all-cause mortality unrelated to physical
activity even if it’s of moderate to vigorous effort. The best
suggestion is to decrease sitting time
not just increase physical activity levels. (4) Palmer Chiropractic Center supports
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 erase 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, particularly
for low back pain sufferers? Dynamic strengthening exercises – those that concentrate
on core and global stabilization as well as 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 affects.
(6) More precisely, a 20-week lumbar stabilization exercise
and muscle strengthening exercise program decreased low back pain
and functional disability in sedentary workers. A lumbar stabilization exercise
program proved more helpful and persisted
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 had
segmental instability. (8) Respiration is important! Another study
showed that forced breathing exercise therapy effectively improved
trunk stability and daily living activities in chronic low back pain patients, especially
for those with chronic lumbago in whom these exercises decreased
pain. (9) Exercise helps! It’s not
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece
of the puzzle.
CONTACT Palmer Chiropractic Center
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 Lynchburg chiropractic appointment
with Palmer Chiropractic Center today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines
you and back pain makes matters worse, Lynchburg
chiropractic care is for you…together with trying not to sit that much and exercising a bit
more!