Effects of Sitting Combatted by Sitka Exercise and Not Sitting!
“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You’ve heard this claim. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka sees the effects of sitting in our Sitka chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain and related 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 cite 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 including Sitka chiropractic patients and adults sit more than 8 hours daily. Older adults supposedly sit for even more time. (2) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka realizes we all sit. We are not shaming you! We’re with you!
THE STATE OF NSCLBP in SEDENTARY WORKERS
Sitting is what we do. Researchers report to 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 didn’t do any activity to increase muscle strength or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting posed a risk for all-cause mortality independent of physical activity even if it’s of moderate to vigorous effort. The best suggestion is to reduce sitting time not just increase physical activity levels. (4) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka supports both, too!
WHAT CAN WE DO? EXERCISE (AND A BONUS: RESPIRATION IMPROVEMENT)
One author asserted the conundrum of the “exercise to buffer sitting’s effect” implication as an “inconvenient truth”: a few weekly trips to the gym 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 concentrate on core and global stabilization plus endurance in stabilizing musculature – displayed 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 precisely, 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 experienced 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 eased pain. (9) Exercise helps! It isn’t everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece of the puzzle.
CONTACT Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
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 Sitka chiropractic appointment with Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue describes you and back pain complicates it, Sitka chiropractic care is for you…besides trying not to sit so much and exercising a bit more!
