Does Prolonged Sitting Cause Back Problems
By: Dr. Brice Neff DC
Most of us spend more than six hours a day sitting, and a broader behind isn’t the only impact. You consume less energy when you sit than when you’re active or on the move. Long hours of sitting have been related to several health issues. Sitting may have both short-term and long-term consequences on your health and physique. Lengthy durations of sitting have been linked to various health issues. Too much sitting, in general, appears to raise the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Read on to find out how detrimental sitting all day can be for your whole body and how chiropractic therapy might help.
Health Concerns Due To Long Sitting Hours
Years back, people thought that the unhealthiest individuals had jobs that required long-distance travel by automobile or truck. The time spent with this duty in a generally hazardous position was one of the primary triggers of bad health, instead of the first notion of collision or accident.
The emergence of the computer era made the online digital world the ruler of jobs, and now as our sitting time has more than quadrupled, so have our health concerns. These health issues vary from neck pain and back pain to headaches and sciatica to the start of pathological conditions such as obesity. Instead of prohibiting the chair, a more practical approach could be recognizing that prolonged sitting or a sedentary lifestyle is bad for our health and taking responsibility for our lifestyle choices.
Medical Studies On Prolonged Sitting
Prolonged sitting is a contributing factor to a variety of adverse health impacts. In an NCBI study that intended to investigate the nature of sitting behavior and its negative consequences among office employees, participants spent a total of 6.29 hours of an 8-hour scheduled shift in a sitting posture. According to the findings, 48.8% of respondents were dissatisfied with their workstations, and 73.6% felt weary all through the workday.
Furthermore, 6.3% of them had high blood pressure, and 11.2% had hyperlipidemia. According to the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) data, the most common complaint among office employees was neck pain (53.5%), lower back pain (53.2%), and shoulder discomfort (51.6%). According to the findings, long sitting periods were linked to fatigue throughout the workday, poor job satisfaction, high blood pressure, and musculoskeletal problems in office employees’ shoulders, lower back, legs, and knees.
Additional research on the impact of a sedentary and active lifestyle on health is required. However, a less sitting and more significant movement lead to overall improved health. You may begin by simply standing rather than sitting whenever possible or inventing methods to move while working. The influence of mobility, even if it is slow, can be tremendous. To begin with, you will consume more calories. This might result in weight reduction and enhanced stamina. Exercise can also help to preserve muscular tone, mobility, and psychological well-being, particularly as you become older.
Tips For Maintaining Correct Posture
At Arizona’s Family Chiropractic, we monitor how human activities influence our culture. The rise of technology has impacted how we utilize our bodies. Humans have progressed from being energetic hunter-gatherers to being less active farmers. The Industrial Revolution brought us to factories, and the ‘digital age’ put us behind desks, and from there, a lifestyle of prolonged sitting evolved.
The bad posture and sitting crisis are urgent, and it will have predictable negative consequences for our health and the health of future generations unless we modify our habits. Computers are not going away. As a result, ergonomics and responsibility for our acts will be critical to regaining our freedom. Here are three basic posture suggestions you may start using right away:
- Purchase a standing desk so that you may work while standing.
- Take frequent pauses and stretch for 30-60 seconds every 30-60 minutes.
- After supper, don’t sit on the couch. Instead, stand and stretch for about 5-10 minutes.
Chiropractic Care May Help For Back Discomfort
Even though back muscles are gradually strengthened to stabilize the spine, the hours spent building the back or stretching the joints may be ineffective if the spine is not perfectly aligned. The first step in repairing any back troubles is a healthy functioning spine. We integrate chiropractic, muscle strengthening regimen, and flexibility routines at Arizona’s Family Chiropractic to help your back maintain maximum wellness.
Our muscles and joints may stiffen and tighten as we sit for an extended period. Stretching helps release the joints and lengthen the muscles, allowing the body to perform more effectively. Exercising the muscles and joints by stretching also helps to prevent back issues. Pulling muscles or slipping discs in the back are less frequent if the back muscles and spine are better prepared to support the body during any physical activity.
Prolonged sitting all through the day doesn’t improve any muscles; somewhat, it weakens the back muscles, impeding their ability to support the spine. Feeble back muscles cause bad posture. Bad posture may also lead to misalignment in the spine and cause discs to deteriorate or fall out of position. As a result, nerves are inflamed or compressed, causing discomfort.
Your long-term wellbeing is worth a few moments and a few simple behavioral modifications. Reach out to Arizona’s Family Chiropractic today to enhance your mobility, stop neurodegeneration, arthritis, and many other ailments, and raise your vitality.
References
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lying Down Healthier Than Prolonged Sitting?
No. Lying down has the same adverse effects as sitting. There is, however, one exception: sleep. Our bodies require around eight hours of prone time to perform various physiological healing processes.
How Long Is Prolonged Sitting?
Minimal risk represents less than 4 hours of sitting each day. A moderate risk suggests that you will be sitting for 4 to 8 hours each day. Greater risk means sitting for 8 to 11 hours each day. Significantly high risk means that you have sat for more than 11 hours every day.
What Are Some Tips For Cutting Back On Sitting Time?
In addition to the three basic posture suggestions, here are some pointers to keep in mind to help you decrease your sitting time:
- Instead of taking a seat on the train or bus, consider standing
- Climb the stairs or use escalators
- While on the phone, stand or walkabout
- Go for a stroll when you take a coffee break
- Rather than texting or calling, go to a coworker’s desk
- Change part of your TV time for more active jobs or pastimes
