We all know the detrimental effects of prolonged sitting. I Hope.
There is no mystery behind it, we already have the evidence, as described in this past CNN article. Sitting increases our risk of premature death, obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, orthopaedic injury or dysfunction and many other diseases. In fact, we don’t see ANY lumbar disease in any third-world country or in any country that toilets on the ground or sleeps on the ground. Secondarily, we see no hip disease in any country that sleeps on the ground and toilets on the ground, partly because they completely reinforce range motion?”
With the amount of Americans who have a sit down job and hours of inactivity, sitting is considered normal. It is socially desirable to pick out your favorite desk chair at Staples that is the most comfortable for a long day of work. The average person relishes the opportunuty to outfit their home with a “lazy-boy” or a plush sofa to spend every evening sunken into. We know it’s harmful, maybe even addicting, but let’s not continue following the crowd. We need a change, and physical therapists should lead it.
Is sitting just as bad as alcohol or smoking? We all know these things are bad for our bodies. Many medical intake form includes a check box on ‘alcohol and smoking’ consumption by the week. It is on there because we know it can affect your outcome under health and physical therapy services, or just simply overall health status. I would say 80% of the patients I treat are having back pain or had back pain before. Maybe we need to add a ‘how long do you sit a day’ box.
I believe in thinking of new ways to aviod the slow death of sitting by creating moveable standing desks, or working on sitting like our ancestors by squatting down instead. We are smarter than that people… lets make a better decision.
