“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You’ve
heard it. Minster Chiropractic Center sees the effects of sitting in our
Minster 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 uncovered that 300 news articles mention this claim! (1) Harsh or not, it does call attention to the issue that
sitting a lot isn’t healthy for anyone. 25% of adults including Minster
chiropractic patients and adults sit more than 8 hours a day.
Older adults are said to sit for even more time.
(2) Minster Chiropractic Center 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 document
that low back pain
sufferers’ activity levels are low. Of 300 patients, 32.5% lead 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 decrease the quantity of sitting
not just increase physical activity levels. (4) Minster Chiropractic Center urges
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 gym
isn’t able to 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 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 – displayed 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 decreased 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 boosted
respiratory function and pressure in chronic low back pain patient who experienced
segmental instability. (8) Respiration is a big deal! Another study
showed 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 reduced
pain. (9) Exercise works! It is not
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a part of the solution.
CONTACT Minster Chiropractic Center
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 Minster chiropractic appointment
with Minster Chiropractic Center today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue describes
you and back pain complicates it, Minster
chiropractic care is for you…together with trying not to sit that much and exercising a little
more!