“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You’ve
heard this claim. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa sees the effects of sitting in our
West Des Moines chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain
and associated issues. Let’s consider
sitting and being sedentary workers and what we can do
about it.
SITTING COMPARISON TO SMOKING
Is the sitting and smoking a little harsh?
Maybe. One medical report stated 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 including West Des Moines
chiropractic patients and adults sit more than 8 hours a day.
Older adults are said to sit even more.
(2) Executive Chiropractic of Iowa realizes 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 tell us
that the activity level of low back pain suffers is low. Of 300 patients, 32.5% lead sedentary
lives, 48.5% had underactive lifestyles, and 68.3% of them didn’t do any activity to enhance 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 increase physical activity levels. (4) Executive Chiropractic of Iowa supports
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 fitness center
can’t really wipe away a lifetime of sitting. He
also contended 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 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 two muscles that low back pain affects.
(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 effective and persisted
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 had
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, especially
for those with chronic lumbago in whom these exercises decreased
pain. (9) Exercise helps! It isn’t
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece
of the puzzle.
CONTACT Executive Chiropractic of Iowa
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 West Des Moines chiropractic appointment
with Executive Chiropractic of Iowa today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue describes
you and back pain complicates it, West Des Moines
chiropractic care is for you…in addition to striving
to not sit that much and exercising a bit
more!