Sitting For Too Long
The recent Movement Control Order in Malaysia has caused most of us to stay home and start working from home. Many of us came into this unprepared. We did not have the right tables, the right chairs and since then we may have started feeling old pains exacerbated or even new pains. Worse than bad ergonomics (right posture and right furniture), we have also suffered from prolonged sitting with irregular work hours. We no longer take walks to our colleague’s desk for a chat, walk to and from our car, walking to work.
It has been proven that sitting for more than 6 hours can be damaging to your body and the overall diseases could be compounded and cause damage that is worse than smoking. Here are some things that can happen when you have been sitting too long. Some of which we see regularly in clinic and others that happen and indirectly affect your health.
Direct effects that we see in clinic regularly:
- Tightness in upper back, shoulders and neck
This is could lead to HEADACHES - Stiffness in lower back and hips
Stiffness in your lower back and hips are due to sitting and your hip flexors shortening when you have been sitting for too long. Especially when you have a posterior tilt which leads to number 3 - Weakness in glutes and eventually legs
When the glutes are inhibited by sitting all day, you lose your stabilization muscles. In a long run, your legs lose muscle mass and when we go back to regular exercising and walking, you could feel more pain than relief.
Indirect effects:
- Weight Gain
- Anxiety and Depression
- Cancer risk
- Heart disease
- Diabetes risk
- Varicose Veins
- Deep Vein Thrombosis
With this said, it is extremely important to keep moving during this time. To get up every 30 mins and move around for 30 seconds. If you can have a regular routine everyday to exercise or to move around, that would be perfect. We will discuss simple spinal exercises in our next blog.
If you have questions or would like to start exercising but have a concern regarding your spinal health and posture, you can always give us a visit. At Healthworks, we will love to help you find a routine tat suits you and your needs. Till then, happy exercising!