“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You have surely
heard this claim. Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic sees the effects of sitting in our
Montreal 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 glaring?
Maybe. One medical report uncovered that 300 news articles cite this claim! (1) Glaring or not, it does highlight
the issue that
sitting a lot is not healthy for anyone. 25% of adults Montreal
chiropractic patients and adults included sit more than 8 hours daily.
Older adults are said to sit even more.
(2) Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic knows 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 report to 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 enhance muscle strength
or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting presented a risk for
all-cause mortality independent of physical
activity even if it is of moderate to vigorous effort. The best
suggestion is to reduce the quantity of sitting
not just increase physical activity levels. (4) Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic urges
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 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 problems (beyond its being uncomfortable!) like foot pain and varicose veins. (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 decreased low back pain
and functional disability in sedentary workers. A lumbar stabilization exercise
program proved more effective and persisted
for 12 weeks. (7) A bonus to lumbar segmental stabilization
exercise is that it activated the deep muscles and enhanced
respiratory function and pressure in chronic low back pain patient who experienced
segmental instability. (8) Respiration is important! Another study
showed 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 works! It’s not
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a piece
of the puzzle.
CONTACT Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic
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 Montreal chiropractic appointment
with Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue defines
you and back pain makes matters worse, Montreal
chiropractic care is for you…in addition to striving
to not sit so much and exercising a bit
more!