The Impact of Sitting All Day – Part 1
For most people know they sit all day as part of their job. Recently there has been a spate of article in the press about the impact of sitting all day, so I wanted to take some time to look at the impact of sitting all day.
Sit up Straight
I want to start this series of articles on a positive note, as most of my clients have to sit to work, the negative impact of sitting is minimised if you sit correctly. As your Mum always said, “Sit up straight”, i.e.
- Not leaning forward
- Shoulders relaxed
- Arms close to sides
- Elbows bent 90°
- Lower back should be supported
- Feet flat on floor
So what happens if you don’t sit up straight?
As you would expect from a masseur I am going to start by looking at the impact on your muscles.
Strained Neck & Sore Shoulders
If most of your sitting occurs at a desk at work, craning your neck forward toward a keyboard or tilting your head to cradle a phone while typing can strain the cervical vertebrae and lead to permanent imbalances. The neck doesn’t slouch alone. Slumping forward overextends the shoulder and back muscles as well, particularly the trapezius, which connects the neck and shoulders. Here at Vitality Therapy we offer Seated Acupressure Massage to directly address these issues.
Bad back
When we move around, soft discs between vertebrae expand and contract like sponges, soaking up fresh blood and nutrients. But when we sit for a long time, discs are squashed unevenly. Collagen hardens around supporting tendons and ligaments. So people who sit more are at greater risk of slipped disks or herniated disks.
I recommend the Yoga position cat-cow for increasing your spinal flexibility. (Click here for guidelines on how to do cat-cow.)
When you sit for a long time, a muscle called the psoas travels through the abdominal cavity and, when it tightens, pulls the upper lumbar spine forward. Upper-body weight rests entirely on the ischial tuberosity (sitting bones) instead of being distributed along the arch of the spine. A sports massage or a deep tissue massage can release a tight psoas muscle.
Mushy abs
When you stand, move or even sit up straight, abdominal muscles keep you upright. But when you slump in a chair, they go unused. Tight back muscles and wimpy abs form a posture-wrecking alliance that can exaggerate the spine’s natural arch, a condition called hyperlordosis, or swayback. So sitting up straight is the first step to good abs!
Tight hips
Flexible hips help keep you balanced, but chronic sitters so rarely extend the hip flexor muscles in front that they become short and tight, limiting range of motion and stride length. Studies have found that decreased hip mobility is a main reason elderly people tend to fall. So when you are in the gym remember tohttp://vitalitytherapy.co.uk/wp-admin/post-new.php stretch your hip flexors.
Limp glutes
Sitting requires your glutes to do absolutely nothing, and they get used to it. Soft glutes hurt your stability, your ability to push off and your ability to maintain a powerful stride when walking. They can impact your performance when you run, as all powerful glutes are the key to increasing your speed and powering you up hills.
Related Posts
Whats the most effective recovery strategy from after a run?
Fatigue in sport has become a topic of interest among athletes, coaches and sport scientists because it affects athletic performance across a wide range of sports. Sports related fatigue can be defined as a decline of muscle force or an exercise induced impairment of performance. (Knicker, 2011).Scientists recruited 46 healthy male recreational runners taking part in the same half marathon event and assigned them to four groups of equal ability, which either had sports massage, cold water immersion (ice baths), active recovery or passive rest within 15 minutes after the event.The sports massage group had a 20 minutes post event sports massage focusing on the legs. The cold water immersion group sat in cold baths where the temperature was maintained at fifteen degrees centrigrade plus/minus 1 degree. While participants in the passive rest group sat at rest on a bench. While those in the active recovery group jogged at 60% of their anaerobic threshold for all 15 minutes.24 hours before the half marathon, immediately after the intervention and then 24 hours after the race jump height, muscle soreness, perceived recovery and stress were measured. The results show the sports massage and cold water immersion had no effect on objective markers of fatigue such as changes in muscle and the blood but they did have a significant effect ont he subjective fatigue measures, including perceived recover and muscle soreness. These interventions were more effective than passive rest while active recovery had no physical advantage and a negative effect on perceived recovery.Reference
Reflexology and Pain Management – Part 3
In previous posts in this series I have discussed the nature of pain, and how is evidence for the reflexology can be used for acute pain. In this article I want to discuss reflexology and chronic pain, as back pain is the most common chronic pain and it effects 8 out of 10 people in their lifetime, I will focus on studies that have looked at chronic lower back pain. An initial pilot study was carried out entitle Reflexology in the management of low back pain: a pilot randomised controlled trial by F Quinn, CM Hughes and GD Baxter. the results of which was published (see Complement Ther Med. 2008 Feb;16(1):3-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2007.05.001. Epub 2007 Jun 27.) Participants suffering from non-specific lower back pain were recurited and randomly assigned to a reflexology or sham group. Each patient received either a 40 minute reflexology treatment or a sham treatment according to which group they were in once per week for 6 consecutive weeks. The key measure of success was the measurement of pain on the visual analogue scale supplemented by the McGill pain questionnaire, Roland-Morris disability questionnaire, and SF-36 health survey. Outcome measures were performed at baseline, week 6, week 12 and week 18. The results incidicated that reflexology may have a positive effect on Lower Back Pain. This initial trail was followed up by a more comprehensive study of times were nurses were the patients, nursing is in the top ten professions for high incidence of lower back pain. Again this study was a double bind trial, and the same measurements of pain were used as in the trail. The study recruited 50 male and 50 female nurses with chronic lower back pain to take part in the trail. 40 minute sessions of reflexology or sham treatements were performed three times a week for two weeks. The study concluded Reflexology can be effective in reducing the severity of chronic back pain, i.e. it is able to reduce pain from moderate to mild. (see The Irainian Journal of Nursing Times (reference Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res. 2012 Mar-Apr; 17(3): 239–243.), focused on back pain in nurses) In conclusion it is clear that while the number and size of the studies are small there is a clear trend which demonstrates the effectiveness of Reflexology in helping to reduce pain levels especially in cases of lower back pain. Remember I offer a 15 minute taster Reflexology session for anyone who would like to try reflexology.
Reflexology and Pain Management – Part 2
In part 1, I explored what pain was, the pain response and briefly explained how reflexology helps manage pain. Much anecdotal evidence shows the benefits of reflexology in pain management and several studies indicate successful treatment outcomes including pain reduction. (See references at end of article). However I would like to focus on one recent study by Dr Carol Samuel and Dr Ivor Ebenezer of University of Portsmouth as this is the first time Reflexology has been scientifically evaluated as a study for acute pain. The results indicate that reflexology may be as effective as pain killers for common conditions such as osteoarthritis, backache and cancer. Participants attended two sessions, in which they were asked to submerge their hand in ice water. In one of the sessions they were given reflexology before they submerged their hand, and in the other session they believed they were receiving pain relief from a Tens machine, which was not actually switched on. The use of the Tens machine is equivalent of a sugar pill in drug trials. The researches found that people felt about 40% less pain, and were able to stand pain for about 45% longer, when they used reflexology as a method of pain relief. So if you are in pain now, by not book a reflexology session. References Booth L (1997) Vertical Reflex therapy: results of a reflexology trail in a Bristol residential home for elderly Khan S, Otter S and Springett K (2006) The effects of reflexology on foot pain and quality of life in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis: a case report, The Foot 16 pg 112-116 Brown CA and Lido C (2008) Reflexology treatment for patients with lower limb amputations and phantom limb pain: an exploratory pilot study, Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 14 pg 124-131 Hughes CM, Smyth S and Lowe-Strong A (2008) Reflexology for the treatment of pain in people with multiple sclerosis: a double-blind randomised controlled trail, The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 14(1) S1-S109
