Prolonged sitting bad for your health

In our daily practice, we usually encounter cases from patients that originate from their daily lifestyles or working habits. The occurrence of computers in a modern era has simplified work but on the other hand damages the health of some users. Some health conditions can force you to work in the sitting position but it is advisable to change working positions in order to overcome immense stress on some parts of the body. Many office workers usually complain of the lumbar-sacrum pains or the low back. One of the mostly affected parts of the body is the pelvis. The pelvis serves as a base for the back skeleton as well as the spinal cord that provides protective housing for the nervous system. The pelvis is a place where so many nerves going to the lower trunk connect with those from the upper part of the body. It serves as the primary highway traffic for the body system and also a big center for information exchange that makes one to feel well or feel pain in case some nerves have been hijacked. If your pelvis is consistently faced with asymmetrical or heavy downward pressure, it can begin to experience inflammation in one or more of the bone joint surfaces, ligaments and muscles. This also means if you sit in a wrong position for a long time in the day, you are most likely to hurt or hijack some of your nerves in the pelvis and therefore will inevitably experience pelvic pain or injury. The most obvious cause of pelvic inflammation is sitting on an uneven surface. This has been observed in some individuals who keep money or documents in their wallets. In one study subjected to lorry drivers who sit long hours in transit and some with thick wallets at the back, chronic pelvic pains or lombalgia was the commonest illness reported. The pelvis is designed to evenly distribute its workload to both your bum cheeks. The sitting bone that you can feel at the bottom of each bum cheek while you are seated is called your ischial tuberosity. And if one ischial tuberosity has to consistently take on its own workload plus part of the workload that its partner is responsible for, it’s only a matter of time before inflammation occurs and the natural biomechanical design and function of your pelvis goes awry. Just above your pelvis sits the lower back part called the lumbar spinal region. This is where most painful disc protrusions and other chronic lower back problems tend to occur. The spinal bones that house and protect the spinal cord are separated at each level by round discs of cartilage that are designed to act as shock absorbers. If these discs experience too much stress over time or even as a one-time major injury, they can protrude or slip backwards into the spinal canal to put pressure on the spinal cord or spinal nerves. Once in contact with your spinal cord or spinal nerves, a slipped disc almost always translates to serious discomfort and pain. A good number of clients are brought to hospital emergencies with such discomfort. Sometimes it is not easy to find an alternative sitting position at work but just need to monitor your comfort and the time you have to spend to accomplish your duties. Other body parts involved in the prolonged sitting position are your shoulders and upper back. Some office clients complain of back tightness and shoulder pains. The design of your computer or desk work is usually different from your seat. You find yourself forced to flex the upper part of your body to perform a particular duty. When you slouch or bend forward, the muscles that line the top of your upper back will pull on the spinal bones and that you can feel at the back of your neck where it meets the upper part of your back. If you have ever spent several hours working on a computer or doing documentation work on your desk without a break, possibly you have experienced a sharp, achy sensation in this region. The point here is that prolonged exertion of stress on the upper trunk can affect the natural curve of spinal bones in a way that can increase the risk for someone to suffer from degenerative spinal arthritis. Slouching or bending forward decreases a critical space that is located at the front of each of your shoulders, just under your collar bones. This space is called the subacromial space. This space is very important to be protected and maintained in order to allow thick bundles of nerves, blood vessels to travel from the neck region down to the arms and hands. When chronic slouching decreases the subacromial space, the nerves and blood vessels can become encroached. Once these nerves and vessels have been affected, a person will begin to feel unwell with uncomfortable symptoms like; poor blood circulation in your arms and hands predisposing you to chronically cold hands. Tingling and pain in your wrists and elbows often associated with carpal tunnel syndrome and elbow tendonitis is another neuro-muscular complaint. I have seen some elders who complain of pain when they try to elevate and externally rotate their shoulders. It is therefore very important to believe that one of the ways to prevent chronic shoulder and upper back problems is to avoid slouching forward on a regular basis.

Health

Prolonged sitting bad for your health