“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You’ve
heard it. The Chiropractic TRUhealthDR sees the effects of sitting in our
Colorado Springs chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain
and related issues. Let us explore
sitting and being sedentary workers and what we can do
about it.
SITTING COMPARISON TO SMOKING
Is the sitting and smoking a little glaring?
Maybe. One medical report found that 300 news articles allude
to this claim! (1) Glaring or not, it does call attention to the concern that
sitting a lot isn’t healthy for anyone. 25% of adults Colorado Springs
chiropractic patients and adults included sit more than 8 hours daily.
Older adults are said to sit even more.
(2) The Chiropractic TRUhealthDR 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 low back pain
sufferers’ activity levels are low. Of 300 patients, 32.5% lead sedentary
lives, 48.5% had underactive lifestyles, and 68.3% of them didn’t do any activity to increase 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 sitting time
not just increase physical activity levels. (4) The Chiropractic TRUhealthDR 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 wipe away 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, 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 2 muscles that low back pain bothers.
(6) More specifically, 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 proved more helpful and persisted
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 a big deal! 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 works! It’s not
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece
of the puzzle.
CONTACT The Chiropractic TRUhealthDR
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 Colorado Springs chiropractic appointment
with The Chiropractic TRUhealthDR today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue describes
you and back pain complicates it, Colorado Springs
chiropractic care is for you…besides trying not to sit that much and exercising a bit
more!