“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You have surely
heard this claim. Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn sees the effects of sitting in our
Ashburn chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain
and related issues. Let us explore
sitting and being sedentary workers and what we can do
about it.
SITTING COMPARISON TO SMOKING
Is the sitting and smoking a little glaring?
Maybe. One medical report found that 300 news articles mention this claim! (1) Glaring or not, it does call attention to the concern that
sitting a lot is not healthy for anyone. 25% of adults including Ashburn
chiropractic patients and adults sit more than 8 hours a day.
Older adults supposedly sit even more.
(2) Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn realizes 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 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 increase muscle strength
or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting created a risk for
all-cause mortality unrelated to physical
activity even if it is of moderate to vigorous effort. The best
suggestion is to reduce the quantity of sitting
not just boost physical activity levels. (4) Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn 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” suggestion as an
“inconvenient truth”: a few weekly trips to the fitness center
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 as well as endurance in stabilizing
musculature – showed better improvement in pain relief and better
function especially 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 reduced 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 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 enhanced
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’s not
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a part of the solution.
CONTACT Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn
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 Ashburn chiropractic appointment
with Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue describes
you and back pain makes matters worse, Ashburn
chiropractic care is for you…besides trying not to sit so much and exercising a little
more!