Sitting Sucks!

I'm often asked by patients about what they can do to prevent acute or chronic back pain.  Moving every day is vital! Not just rolling out of bed, sitting in your car while driving to work, sitting 8-10 hours at work, then sitting again on your commute home, and sitting on the couch to watch TV before bed.  As a nation in general, we sit too much, hence the new "sitting is the new smoking" campaign.  Sitting diseases are a real thing.  We just aren't moving enough anymore. There's even a #sittingisthenewsmoking hashtag!

Sitting diseases are shown to reduce your life expectancy.

What are sitting diseases:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Cardiovascular disease
• Breast and colon cancers

You also have an increased risk of:

• Forward head posture
• Forward rounded shoulders
• Hyperlordosis
• Thoracic hyperkyphosis
• Tight psoas = low back pain
• Deconditioned core and spinal musculature

Your chances of developing a sitting disease increases the more sedentary you are.

For more information, check out this article I wrote titled, 'Standing up for your Health' in 2012.

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What Can You Do?

1. Change your desk!

Alternatives to traditional desks:

• Standing desks
• Treadmill desks
• Half kneeling at your desk

Benefits:

• Improved posture
• Improved blood flow
• Possible increase in productivity and energy levels
• Burn more calories

2. Bike/Walk to work if at all possible.  If not daily, then try a few days per week

3. Set a timer to get up every 30 minutes to stretch and move around.  Many new activity trackers will alert you when you've been inactive for a certain period of time.

4. Get up during commercials at home to do chores or perform squats, jumping jacks, etc.

Next blog topic will cover stretches and specific exercises to keep your spinal muscles and joints healthy!

*Main image source: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/sitting-standing-walking-work

Breast Cancer Awareness

October is also known as 'Breast Cancer Awareness' month.  Numerous companies campaign with "pink" products and ribbons to help support breast cancer awareness and research towards a cure.  Do you see a product with a pink logo or ribbon on it and automatically assume that it supports breast cancer?  Did you know that many products that claim to "support" breast cancer research and awareness, may actually increase your chances of developing cancer?

Such examples of products include:

• energy drinks (that contain "natural and artificial flavors")
• plastic polycarbonate water bottles containing bisphenol-A, more commonly known as BPA
• cosmetics/perfumes (Red #5, violet #2, yellow #5, benzyl benzoate, etc.)
• cleaning products
• air fresheners
• Yogurt 'Friends in the Fight' campaign (contains high amounts of sugar, modified corn starch, "natural flavor",  blue #1, yellow #5, etc.

*These items may not necessarily have any randomized control studies proving there is a 100% cause and effect relationship.  We do know that toxins in our food and environment may correlate with increased risks of developing cancer.  We also know that these synthetic chemicals added to our food provide no nutritional value, and increase the toxic load in our bodies.

(The U.K has banned food dyes and performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study regarding behavioral disorders and Yellow #5 and #6.)

Many companies know that by putting a pink ribbon on their products, it will sell more products, as consumers automatically associate it with donations for breast cancer awareness/research.  But, how much of your purchase is actually donated?  Some companies may not donate any of their sales to the Susan G. Komen fund, despite the pink ribbon on their products.

Be sure to research companies before purchasing their product.  Consider making a donation directly to cancer research in the future, if you're unsure of the product safety.

October is National Chiropractic Health Month

October is known as 'National Chiropractic Health Month'.  According to Dynamic Chiropractic, One in 10 suffers from chronic musculoskeletal pain. Of these, more than half don't understand chiropractic care is an effective, non-drug choice for their pain.  Prescription pain killers mask your pain, leading to over-exertion, delayed/improper healing, and possibly a permanent injury.

This year's American Chiropractic Association's campaign is about the overuse of prescription pain killers and stressing a "pain free nation".  The number of deaths from prescription opioids (pain killers), is on the rise and considered an epidemic by the CDC.  Having a conservative care first approach is one of the key messages from the ACA.  Not only is chiropractic care effective for pain management, but also more economical than having unnecessary imaging and surgeries.  The Joint Commission recently revised its' pain management standards to include chiropractic and acupuncture.

Chiropractors are trained to identify joint dysfunction, muscle over or under activation, faulty gait patterns and more.  A combination of these things may be contributing to your pain, something a pain killer or muscle relaxer will never fix. #painfreenation #NCHM2015

To find out more, you can see the ACA's campaign here!

To find an evidence based chiropractor in your area, click here!

Main image source: http://www.premierptsolutions.com/pages/integrative_physical_therapy.aspx