Effects of Sitting Combatted by Manahawkin Exercise and Not Sitting!
“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You have surely heard this claim. Manahawkin Chiropractic Center sees the effects of sitting in our Manahawkin chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain and related issues. Let’s explore 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 highlight the issue that sitting a lot isn’t healthy for anyone. 25% of adults including Manahawkin chiropractic patients and adults sit more than 8 hours a day. Older adults supposedly sit for even more time. (2) Manahawkin Chiropractic Center 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 tell us that low back pain sufferers’ activity levels are low. Of 300 patients, 32.5% lead sedentary lives, 48.5% live underactive lifestyles, and 68.3% of them didn’t do any activity to increase 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 sitting time not just increase physical activity levels. (4) Manahawkin Chiropractic Center 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 trips to the gym 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 2 muscles that low back pain affects. (6) More precisely, 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 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 important! Another study demonstrated 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 eased pain. (9) Exercise works! It isn’t everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece of the puzzle.
CONTACT Manahawkin Chiropractic 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 irritates us sitting folks.
Schedule you Manahawkin chiropractic appointment with Manahawkin Chiropractic Center today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue describes you and back pain makes matters worse, Manahawkin chiropractic care is for you…in addition to striving to not sit that much and exercising a little more!
