Dr. Levine, a professor at Mayo Clinic, stated, “Sitting is more dangerous than smoking…” The average American spends about 13 hours daily sitting, that’s over half a day sitting! It makes sense; we sit when we eat, when we travel, and some of us at our jobs all day. Our bodies were never created to remain in a static position they were designed to MOVE. Dr. Levine explained that with every hour we sit, we lose two hours of life. Why is that? Sitting for two continuous hours daily increases your risk for heart disease, metabolic syndrome, cancer, back, and neck pain. Scary to think about right?
Something as simple as sitting is detrimental to our health! When we sit for long periods of time, most of us tend to fall into a rounded forward position, a compromised position for our spine. And we know that structure dictates function, if the structure of our spine is compromised that means the function of our body is also compromised.
How the structure of our spine compromised with sitting:
Increase in forward head posture (forward translation of your head in front of your shoulder). Ideally, your ear should remain over your shoulder. With every inch forward, ten pounds of weight is added to the spine. Most people will notice this additional stress at the base of their neck and across their shoulders. The additional stress creates more tension on the nervous system; specifically where the nerves originate that innervates the muscles of the upper limb. If the tension is not relieved, numbness and tingling may start to appear.
Shoulders round forward, moving the spine into a more kyphotic (reverse C shape) position. In this position, more tension is placed on the nervous system again. This time, it affects the nerves that control your body’s pulmonary and cardiac function. To feel the difference, try this. Take a deep breath while you are seated upright. Now, take a deep breath while you are slouched forward. Huge difference in the volume of air you could inhale right?
The pelvis rotates backward, reducing the lordosis (c shape curve) in the low back. The lack of curvature impacts how your nervous system controls your digestive and reproductive health, as well the function of the muscles in your lower limb. This position creates a lack of stability, the gluteal and abdominal muscles become weak. Go ahead and try activating your glutes in this position. It feels almost impossible right? With these muscles inactive, the hip flexors and the low back muscles (the erector spinae) must shorten and they become tight.
The intervertebral discs function as a shock absorber for the spine, making up ¼ of the height in our spine. The height is due to the hydration of the disc. If a continuous load is applied to the disc, such as sitting, the hydration of the disc decreases. Each day, a person loses at least 2 centimeters in height due to the load applied. Andersson found the following pressure placed on the discs of the low back in these various spinal positions: laying down: 300 N, standing: 700 N, sitting: 1000 N. Sitting had the most compressive force, and some of us spend over half the day seated!
Sitting, the "new smoking" isn’t an exaggeration! This is why we have so many families continue on lifetime maintenance care for their spine after going through correction because sitting has become a part of our lifestyles! It is extremely important to have your spine and nervous system evaluated if you currently sit longer than 2 hours per day or if you have in the past. For the younger generation, we need to be proactive taking action to counteract the damage from ongoing time sitting. If you haven't already, a specific evaluation and x-rays are important to determine any spinal misalignment that may already be there, find out what degenerative changes are there from those misalignments, and get a plan to correct them in order to function at your best.
IN HEALTH,
Dr. April Swanstrom
1. Andersson, G. B. J. (1990). Intradiscal pressure changes and the clinician. Back Pain, 12–20. doi: 10.1007/978-94-009-2165-8_2
2. Hall. (2012). Basic biomechanics(6th ed.). Place of publication not identified: Mcgraw Hill Higher Educat.
3. Levine, J. A. (2014). Get up!: why your chair is killing you and what you can do about it. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
4. Starrett, K. (2016). Deskbound: Sitting Is the New Smoking. Victory Belt Publishing.