“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You’ve
heard this claim. Pflugerville Wellness Center sees the effects of sitting in our
Pflugerville chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain
and associated issues. Let’s 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 found that 300 news articles mention this claim! (1) Glaring or not, it does highlight
the issue that
sitting a lot isn’t healthy for anyone. 25% of adults Pflugerville
chiropractic patients and adults included sit more than 8 hours daily.
Older adults supposedly sit for even more time.
(2) Pflugerville Wellness Center 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% live sedentary
lives, 48.5% had 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 unrelated to 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) Pflugerville Wellness Center urges
both, too!
WHAT CAN WE DO? EXERCISE (AND A BONUS: RESPIRATION
IMPROVEMENT)
One author opined the conundrum
of the “exercise to buffer sitting’s effect” implication as an
“inconvenient truth”: a few weekly visits to the fitness center
can’t 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 foot pain and varicose veins. (5) So what then, particularly
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 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 lasted
for 12 weeks. (7) An advantage 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 decreased
pain. (9) Exercise works! It is not
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece
of the puzzle.
CONTACT Pflugerville Wellness 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 bothers us sitting folks.
Schedule you Pflugerville chiropractic appointment
with Pflugerville Wellness Center today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines
you and back pain complicates it, Pflugerville
chiropractic care is for you…together with striving
to not sit so much and exercising a little
more!