Effects of Sitting Combatted by West Des Moines Exercise and Not Sitting!
“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You have surely 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 related issues. Let’s look at 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 uncovered that 300 news articles mention this claim! (1) Glaring or not, it does call attention to the issue 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 supposedly sit even more. (2) Executive Chiropractic of Iowa 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 document that low back pain sufferers’ activity levels are low. Of 300 patients, 32.5% lead sedentary lives, 48.5% had underactive lifestyles, and 68.3% of them did not do any activity to boost muscle strength or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting created 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 sitting time not just increase physical activity levels. (4) Executive Chiropractic of Iowa 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 gym isn’t able to really wipe away a lifetime of sitting. He also contended 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, particularly for low back pain sufferers? Dynamic strengthening exercises – those that concentrate on core and global stabilization as well as endurance in stabilizing musculature – showed better improvement in pain relief and better function particularly in the lumbar multifidus and transversus abdominus which are two muscles that low back pain bothers. (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 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 important! Another study demonstrated 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 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 bothers us sitting folks.
Schedule you West Des Moines chiropractic appointment with Executive Chiropractic of Iowa today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines you and back pain makes matters worse, West Des Moines chiropractic care is for you…together with striving to not sit that much and exercising a bit more!
