“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You have surely
heard this claim. Johnson Chiropractic sees the effects of sitting in our
Richmond chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain
and associated issues. Let us consider
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 found that 300 news articles mention 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 Richmond
chiropractic patients and adults sit more than 8 hours a day.
Older adults supposedly sit for even more time.
(2) Johnson Chiropractic knows we all sit. We are not
shaming you! We are with you!
THE STATE OF NSCLBP in SEDENTARY WORKERS
Sitting is what we do. Researchers document
that the activity level of low back pain suffers is low. Of 300 patients, 32.5% live sedentary
lives, 48.5% had underactive lifestyles, and 68.3% of them did
not 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’s of moderate to vigorous effort. The best
suggestion is to reduce the quantity of sitting
not just increase physical activity levels. (4) Johnson 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” suggestion as an
“inconvenient truth”: a few weekly visits 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 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 particularly in the lumbar multifidus and transversus
abdominus which are two muscles that low back pain affects.
(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 effective 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 had
segmental instability. (8) Respiration is important! 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 reduced
pain. (9) Exercise works! It isn’t
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece
of the puzzle.
CONTACT Johnson 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 Richmond chiropractic appointment
with Johnson Chiropractic today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines
you and back pain makes matters worse, Richmond
chiropractic care is for you…together with striving
to not sit so much and exercising a little
more!