“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You’ve
heard it. Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center sees the effects of sitting in our
Pensacola chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain
and related issues. Let us 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) Harsh or not, it does call attention to the concern that
sitting a lot isn’t healthy for anyone. 25% of adults Pensacola
chiropractic patients and adults included sit more than 8 hours daily.
Older adults are said to sit even more.
(2) Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center realizes we all sit. We are not
shaming you! We’re 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% 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 posed a risk for
all-cause mortality unrelated to 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) Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center 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” implication as an
“inconvenient truth”: a few weekly visits 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 problems (beyond its being uncomfortable!) like varicose
veins and foot pain. (5) So what then, particularly
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 especially 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 reduced low back pain
and functional disability in sedentary workers. A lumbar stabilization exercise
program was more effective and lasted
for 12 weeks. (7) A bonus 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 improved
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 helps! It isn’t
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece
of the puzzle.
CONTACT Pensacola Spinal Rehab 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 Pensacola chiropractic appointment
with Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines
you and back pain complicates it, Pensacola
chiropractic care is for you…besides trying not to sit that much and exercising a bit
more!