Effects of Sitting Combatted by Concord, NC Exercise and Not Sitting!
“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You have surely heard it. Pure Chiropractic sees the effects of sitting in our Concord, NC chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain and associated issues. Let’s look at 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 allude to this claim! (1) Glaring or not, it does call attention to the concern that sitting a lot is not healthy for anyone. 25% of adults including Concord, NC chiropractic patients and adults sit more than 8 hours a day. Older adults supposedly sit even more. (2) Pure Chiropractic knows we all sit. We are 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 did not do any activity to increase muscle strength or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting posed a risk for all-cause mortality independent of 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) Pure Chiropractic supports 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” suggestion as an “inconvenient truth”: a few weekly visits to the gym can’t really erase a lifetime of sitting. He also shared that fixing the sitting issue by standing has its own problems (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 – 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 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 had 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 decreased pain. (9) Exercise works! It isn’t everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece of the puzzle.
CONTACT Pure 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 Concord, NC chiropractic appointment with Pure Chiropractic today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines you and back pain makes matters worse, Concord, NC chiropractic care is for you…besides trying not to sit that much and exercising a bit more!
