Effects of Sitting Combatted by Tonawanda Exercise and Not Sitting!
“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You have surely heard this claim. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation sees the effects of sitting in our Tonawanda chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain and related issues. Let’s explore sitting and being sedentary workers and what our options might be.
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 call attention to the issue that sitting a lot isn’t healthy for anyone. 25% of adults including Tonawanda chiropractic patients and adults sit more than 8 hours a day. Older adults are said to sit even more. (2) Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation realizes 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 document that low back pain sufferers’ activity levels are low. Of 300 patients, 32.5% live sedentary lives, 48.5% had underactive lifestyles, and 68.3% of them did not do any activity to boost muscle strength or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting posed a risk for all-cause mortality separate from physical activity even if it’s of moderate to vigorous effort. The best suggestion is to decrease the quantity of sitting not just increase physical activity levels. (4) Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation supports both, too!
WHAT CAN WE DO? EXERCISE (AND A BONUS: RESPIRATION IMPROVEMENT)
One author opined the challenge of the “exercise to buffer sitting’s effect” implication as an “inconvenient truth”: a few weekly trips to the fitness center can’t really wipe away a lifetime of sitting. He also contended that fixing the sitting issue by standing has its own issues (beyond its being uncomfortable!) like foot pain and varicose veins. (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 especially in the lumbar multifidus and transversus abdominus which are 2 muscles that low back pain bothers. (6) More precisely, 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) An advantage 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, especially for those with chronic lumbago in whom these exercises eased pain. (9) Exercise helps! It’s not everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece of the puzzle.
CONTACT Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation
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 Tonawanda chiropractic appointment with Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines you and back pain makes matters worse, Tonawanda chiropractic care is for you…besides striving to not sit that much and exercising a bit more!
