“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You’ve
heard it. Moses Chiropractic sees the effects of sitting in our
West Palm Beach chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain
and associated issues. Let us 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 stated that 300 news articles allude
to this claim! (1) Glaring or not, it does draw attention to the concern that
sitting a lot is not healthy for anyone. 25% of adults including West Palm Beach
chiropractic patients and adults sit more than 8 hours a day.
Older adults are said to sit even more.
(2) Moses Chiropractic knows 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% live underactive lifestyles, and 68.3% of them did
not do any activity to enhance muscle strength
or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting presented a risk for
all-cause mortality separate from 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) Moses Chiropractic encourages
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” suggestion as an
“inconvenient truth”: a few weekly visits to the fitness center
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 varicose
veins and foot pain. (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 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) A bonus 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
demonstrated 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 decreased
pain. (9) Exercise helps! It isn’t
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece
of the puzzle.
CONTACT Moses 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 West Palm Beach chiropractic appointment
with Moses Chiropractic today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue describes
you and back pain complicates it, West Palm Beach
chiropractic care is for you…besides striving
to not sit so much and exercising a bit
more!