Effects of Sitting Combatted by McHenry Exercise and Not Sitting!
“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You’ve 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 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 glaring? Maybe. One medical report uncovered that 300 news articles cite this claim! (1) Harsh or not, it does highlight the issue 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 are said to sit for even more time. (2) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic knows we all sit. We’re not shaming you! We are with you!
THE STATE OF NSCLBP in SEDENTARY WORKERS
Sitting is what we do. Researchers tell 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 boost muscle strength or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting posed a risk for all-cause mortality separate from physical activity even if it’s of moderate to vigorous effort. The best suggestion is to decrease the quantity of sitting not just boost physical activity levels. (4) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic encourages 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 gym isn’t able to really wipe away a lifetime of sitting. He also shared that fixing the sitting issue by standing has its own problems (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 concentrate on core and global stabilization plus 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 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 was more helpful and lasted 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 a big deal! Another study demonstrated that forced breathing exercise therapy effectively improved 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 part of the solution.
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 describes you and back pain complicates it, McHenry chiropractic care is for you…besides trying not to sit that much and exercising a bit more!
