Long hours of sitting over time can lead to many health conditions; including Arthritis, degenerative changes in the spine and pinched nerves. These lead to many other diseases caused by lack of activity including weight gain, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. The diseases usually take years of prolonged sitting to develop, however, in the meantime, warning signals of damage develop such as neck and back pain, headaches, fatigue, problems in the arms and hands, and lack of concentration.
When we sit all day, we place a lot of stress on our spines. Improper sitting to look at the computer screen, phone or TV all day causes our heads to move forward, and our backs to hunch over. The bad position leads to structural shifts in the spine causing the development of ANTERIOR HEAD SYNDROME (AHS).
Did you know that every inch our head moves forward from of our shoulders, 10 extra pounds of stress is placed on our spine? So a person that has an AHS of 3-5 inches is putting 30-50 pounds of extra pressure on their spine. Within 2 weeks of developing AHS our spines start to deteriorate. A deteriorating spine directly affects our nerves, compromising the messages that travel from the brain to the different parts of the body. All communication from the brain to the body happens through the nerves so AHS disrupts total body function.
It is very important, in order to avoid AHS that we practice proper ergonomics especially if we are going to be sitting for long than 30 minute periods.
Proper sitting ergonomics include the following, the head should be straight and NOT in a down position most of the time. The back should be straight or tilted 10-15 degrees. The arms should be at 90 degree angles and the wrist should be slightly flexed. The legs should be either right under the knees or a few inches forward. It is a bad habit to tuck your feet under the chair.
Due to fact that most people have not practiced proper ergonomics, they have already developed structural shifts in their spines. It is the primary purpose of a Structural Chiropractor to locate these structural abnormalities. Once a structural problem has been found, Correctional Chiropractic Care specializes in restoring normal structure and function to the spine and to all the nerves that control the rest of the body. The correction of the underlying problem causes many of the structural abnormalities that sitting all day have caused to be resolved and the entire body functions at an optimal level. When the spine and nervous system are working better, the rest of the body will also work better.
PLANET CHIROPRACTIC 