Effects of Sitting Combatted by New York City Exercise and Not Sitting!
“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You’ve heard this claim. Rosenberg Wellness Center sees the effects of sitting in our New York City chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain and associated issues. Let us 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 uncovered that 300 news articles allude to this claim! (1) Glaring or not, it does call attention to the issue that sitting a lot is not healthy for anyone. 25% of adults including New York City chiropractic patients and adults sit more than 8 hours daily. Older adults supposedly sit even more. (2) Rosenberg Wellness Center 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% lead sedentary lives, 48.5% live 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 unrelated to physical activity even if it’s of moderate to vigorous effort. The best suggestion is to reduce the quantity of sitting not just boost physical activity levels. (4) Rosenberg Wellness Center urges 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 trips to the fitness center 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 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 plus endurance in stabilizing musculature – showed better improvement in pain relief and better function especially in the lumbar multifidus and transversus abdominus which are two muscles that low back pain affects. (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 proved more effective and lasted 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 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 eased pain. (9) Exercise helps! It is not everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece of the puzzle.
CONTACT Rosenberg Wellness 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 New York City chiropractic appointment with Rosenberg Wellness Center today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines you and back pain complicates it, New York City chiropractic care is for you…besides striving to not sit that much and exercising a little more!
