“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You’ve
heard it. Malverne Health & Wellness sees the effects of sitting in our
Malverne chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain
and associated 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 uncovered that 300 news articles allude
to this claim! (1) Glaring or not, it does highlight
the concern that
sitting a lot isn’t healthy for anyone. 25% of adults including Malverne
chiropractic patients and adults sit more than 8 hours a day.
Older adults are said to sit for even more time.
(2) Malverne Health & Wellness knows 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 tell us
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 presented 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) Malverne Health & Wellness supports
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 erase 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, especially
for low back pain sufferers? Dynamic strengthening exercises – those that focus
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 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 persisted
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 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 is not
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a part of the solution.
CONTACT Malverne Health & Wellness
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 Malverne chiropractic appointment
with Malverne Health & Wellness today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines
you and back pain complicates it, Malverne
chiropractic care is for you…together with striving
to not sit that much and exercising a little
more!