Sitting makes back pain worse. A lot of people have back pain.

Not surprised? If you are a back pain sufferer, you aren’t! Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC sees quite a few patients every day with back pain whose big gripe is that sitting makes the back hurt. What’s your La Grande chiropractor’s advice? Don’t sit! But we know it’s not that easy. Sitting is part of all of our lives. We need to find a way to deal with it.

And researchers are looking for the way. The most recent study sheds some light on the fact that short breaks from sitting improve the sensation of lower back pain. Great information for La Grande workers who must sit! The researchers studied men and women who work at computers in various occupations. Working consecutive hours at the computer associates with work related back pain and discomfort for 27.4% of computer-related workers. (1) No surprise, we know, but it’s documented in this article. Fortunately, frequent short breaks improve back pain in 22.4% of the participants. (1) So get up frequently for your back’s sake!

And your back pain is not alone! So many La Grande people suffer with back pain and neck pain. Disc degeneration haunts so many people! As a matter of fact, 71% of men and 77% of women less than 50 years of age and 90% in all people over 50 years have it. (2) Disc degeneration seems to affect most people at the

• C5/6 level in the middle of the neck,
• T6/7 in the thoracic spine below the shoulder blades, and
• L4/5 in the lower back.

Age and obesity were linked with disc degeneration in all regions of the spine. Lower back pain is related to disc degeneration in the lumbar spine. (2)

Now when severe disc degeneration and lower back pain are considered together, severe disc degeneration at more than one level of the spine was found in 46.9% of the controls (no history of back pain) and 65.8% of the chronic low back pain patients. These researchers conclude that disc degeneration is not a major cause of chronic low back pain. (3) This seems confounding to even your La Grande chiropractor at Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC, but it’s documented.

So contact Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC for a thorough chiropractic examination of your spine. That will allow your La Grande chiropractor to determine if you have disc degeneration that may put you at risk for lower back pain as well as to suggest some ways to cope with work-related positions like sitting that may not be good for your back. See you soon!