“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You have surely
heard it. Aaron Chiropractic Clinic sees the effects of sitting in our
Fort Wayne 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 harsh?
Maybe. One medical report uncovered that 300 news articles cite this claim! (1) Harsh or not, it does call attention to the concern that
sitting a lot is not healthy for anyone. 25% of adults Fort Wayne
chiropractic patients and adults included sit more than 8 hours daily.
Older adults supposedly sit even more.
(2) Aaron Chiropractic Clinic 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% live underactive lifestyles, and 68.3% of them didn’t do any activity to boost muscle strength
or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting created a risk for
all-cause mortality independent of physical
activity even if it’s of moderate to vigorous effort. The best
suggestion is to decrease sitting time
not just boost physical activity levels. (4) Aaron Chiropractic Clinic encourages
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” suggestion as an
“inconvenient truth”: a few weekly trips to the gym
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 foot pain and varicose veins. (5) So what then, especially
for low back pain sufferers? Dynamic strengthening exercises – those that focus
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 2 muscles that low back pain bothers.
(6) More precisely, 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) 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 experienced
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, particularly
for those with chronic lumbago in whom these exercises reduced
pain. (9) Exercise works! It’s not
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a part of the solution.
CONTACT Aaron Chiropractic Clinic
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 Fort Wayne chiropractic appointment
with Aaron Chiropractic Clinic today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue describes
you and back pain makes matters worse, Fort Wayne
chiropractic care is for you…together with striving
to not sit so much and exercising a little
more!