Effects of Sitting Combatted by Plainville Exercise and Not Sitting!
“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You’ve heard this claim. Layden Chiropractic sees the effects of sitting in our Plainville chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain and related issues. Let’s consider 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 uncovered that 300 news articles allude to this claim! (1) Glaring or not, it does highlight the concern that sitting a lot is not healthy for anyone. 25% of adults Plainville chiropractic patients and adults included sit more than 8 hours a day. Older adults supposedly sit even more. (2) Layden Chiropractic realizes we all sit. We’re not shaming you! We’re 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% live underactive lifestyles, and 68.3% of them didn’t do any activity to enhance muscle strength or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting posed 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 the quantity of sitting not just boost physical activity levels. (4) Layden Chiropractic supports both, too!
WHAT CAN WE DO? EXERCISE (AND A BONUS: RESPIRATION IMPROVEMENT)
One author asserted the challenge of the “exercise to buffer sitting’s effect” suggestion as an “inconvenient truth”: a few weekly visits to the gym can’t 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 foot pain and varicose veins. (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 especially in the lumbar multifidus and transversus abdominus which are 2 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 effective 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 experienced segmental instability. (8) Respiration is a big deal! Another study demonstrated 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 is not everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a part of the solution.
CONTACT Layden 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 Plainville chiropractic appointment with Layden Chiropractic today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines you and back pain complicates it, Plainville chiropractic care is for you…in addition to striving to not sit that much and exercising a bit more!
