“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You’ve
heard it. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc sees the effects of sitting in our
Fort Wayne chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain
and related issues. Let us 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 allude
to this claim! (1) Harsh or not, it does call attention to the issue that
sitting a lot isn’t healthy for anyone. 25% of adults including Fort Wayne
chiropractic patients and adults sit more than 8 hours a day.
Older adults are said to sit for even more time.
(2) Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc 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 the activity level of low back pain suffers is 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 increase muscle strength
or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting presented a risk for
all-cause mortality unrelated to physical
activity even if it is of moderate to vigorous effort. The best
suggestion is to reduce the quantity of sitting
not just increase physical activity levels. (4) Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc 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 trips to the fitness center
isn’t able to 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 varicose
veins and foot pain. (5) So what then, especially
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 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 was more helpful and persisted
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 had
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, particularly
for those with chronic lumbago in whom these exercises reduced
pain. (9) Exercise works! It is not
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a part of the solution.
CONTACT Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc
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 Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines
you and back pain complicates it, Fort Wayne
chiropractic care is for you…together with striving
to not sit that much and exercising a bit
more!