“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You have surely
heard this claim. OrthoIllinois Chiropractic sees the effects of sitting in our
McHenry chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain
and related issues. Let’s discuss
sitting and being sedentary workers and what our options might be.
SITTING COMPARISON TO SMOKING
Is the sitting and smoking a little glaring?
Maybe. One medical report uncovered that 300 news articles cite 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 McHenry
chiropractic patients and adults included sit more than 8 hours daily.
Older adults supposedly sit for even more time.
(2) OrthoIllinois 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% lead sedentary
lives, 48.5% had underactive lifestyles, and 68.3% of them didn’t do any activity to enhance muscle strength
or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting created a risk for
all-cause mortality unrelated to physical
activity even if it is of moderate to vigorous effort. The best
suggestion is to decrease sitting time
not just increase physical activity levels. (4) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic supports
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” implication 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 contended 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 focus
on core and global stabilization plus 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 boosted
respiratory function and pressure in chronic low back pain patient who had
segmental instability. (8) Respiration is important! 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 decreased
pain. (9) Exercise helps! It’s not
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece
of the puzzle.
CONTACT OrthoIllinois 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 McHenry chiropractic appointment
with OrthoIllinois Chiropractic today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines
you and back pain makes matters worse, McHenry
chiropractic care is for you…in addition to trying not to sit so much and exercising a bit
more!