“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 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 harsh?
Maybe. One medical report stated that 300 news articles mention this claim! (1) Glaring or not, it does highlight
the issue that
sitting a lot is not healthy for anyone. 25% of adults Plainville
chiropractic patients and adults included sit more than 8 hours daily.
Older adults supposedly sit even more.
(2) Layden Chiropractic 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 tell us
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 didn’t do any activity to boost muscle strength
or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting posed a risk for
all-cause mortality independent of 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) 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 trips to the fitness center
isn’t able to 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 two muscles that low back pain affects.
(6) More specifically, 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 had
segmental instability. (8) Respiration is a big deal! Another study
demonstrated 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 eased
pain. (9) Exercise helps! It’s 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 irritates us sitting folks.
Schedule you Plainville chiropractic appointment
with Layden Chiropractic today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue describes
you and back pain complicates it, Plainville
chiropractic care is for you…together with trying not to sit so much and exercising a bit
more!