Healthy Way to Sit & Exercise At Same Time

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Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

The Healthy Way to Sit and Exercise at the Same Time

By Paul Chek, HHP, NMT

Founder, C.H.E.K. Institute

 

http://www.mercola.com/2005/jul/2/sit_exercise.htm

 

Did you know that low back pain is the most common orthopedic

disorder in the world? Amazingly, one of the major causes of back

pain is sitting. For many of you, this is quite a problem because

today, more people work seated than any other position. Typically,

people get up and sit to eat, sit to drive to work, sit at work, sit

on the drive home, sit to eat dinner and sit in front of a TV until

they go to bed. That's a lot of sitting!

 

Do we have some strange affinity for chairs? It would appear so, yet

as I will show you, this affinity is misguided.

 

While it's quite likely back pain was a problem even before chairs

were invented, the arrival of the chair in our lives certainly did

nothing but increase the incidence of back pain. This was

demonstrated by Dr. Harry Fahrni who studied the Bihl tribe of India.

The Bihl didn't use chairs and, at the time of Fahrni's visit, were

very primitive. Dr. Fahrni had X-rays taken of the lumbar spines of

450 Bihl tribesmen ranging in age from 15-44. He then took a

comparable series of X-rays of heavy laborers in Sweden and an

additional series of X-rays of light workers in San Francisco.

 

Fahrni's studies only confirmed what he knew from experience: The

more active Bihl who didn't use chairs had healthier spines than

other groups (see Figure 1 for images of healthy and degenerative

spines). He found heavy laborers in Sweden had a high incidence of

lumbar disc narrowing of 80 percent by age 55. Light workers showed

an incidence of 35 percent narrowing by the same age. In stark

contrast, the images of the primitive Bihl tribesmen showed an

incidence of only 9 percent disc narrowing. 1

 

Dr. Fahrni's findings (Figure 2) show avoiding chairs and having an

active lifestyle may be significant contributions to maintenance of a

healthy spine. However, being active alone is not enough to avoid

back problems.

 

From a movement perspective, there is no doubt both the light workers

in San Francisco and the heavy workers in Sweden were active, so what

may account for the difference there? My clinical experience

suggests, in the heavy workers, the patterns of movement would be

quite repetitious while the light workers may simply not have gotten

enough exercise.

 

Among the Bihl tribesmen and women, the activities of hunting and

gathering would ensure adequate movement as well as a myriad of

movement patterns. Such consistent, dynamic activity would serve to

pump fluids through the spinal discs, keeping them well nourished.

The Swedish and American participants also came from industrialized

nations where sitting is commonplace.

 

However, when we squat the way native tribesmen do (Figure 3), the

torso is supported by the thighs, allowing relaxation and

decompression of the spinal column, which can only keep it well

hydrated and healthy (Figure 4).

 

I Can't Escape My Chair: What Can I Do?

 

When you sit in chairs for hours each day, the spine doesn't get

enough movement and fluid is leached out of the discs. This minimizes

incoming nourishment because the discs have no direct blood supply

and are fed by a process of absorption facilitated by pressure

changes in the case of the spine.

 

Since the primary constituent of a spinal disc is water, it only

makes sense to keep properly hydrated to prevent your discs from

dehydrating. This means drinking at least half your body weight in

ounces of water daily. A person weighing 200 pounds would need 100

ounces of water daily. I know for a fact drinking water can decrease

pain in degenerative spines because I've seen it happen over and over

again in my own practice.