If Sitting is the NEW “smoking” for your Back, then here is what you can do about it now before its too late!

Who says Physical Therapists in Brooklyn don’t get emergency cases at midnight? Imagine this insane but true story about LOWER BACK PAIN that will make you really think hard about what SITTING IS REALLY DOING TO YOU.     But before I get to the what sitting can do to your overall health let me tell you what happened to me last week that may explain it better.   So….my best friend texts me desperate for advice on a Sunday night last week complaining of severe severe pain in his Lower Back. This guy is 6’ 2’, super in shape and in perfect health. Actually he is soccer pro who works out 3x a week. Problem is he sits 14 hours a day!

SO WHAT –WE ALL SIT 8-10 HOURS A DAY TO WORK ON OUR PHONES, LAPTOPS OR IPADS AND WE ARE JUST FINE!

Remember those cigarette commercials about smoking showing you what happens to your Skin, Nail Beds, Gums and Teeth from years of sucking in carbon monoxide and nicotine in from those cancer sticks? The good part is that they always had a WARNING message about the side effects of smoking at the end so that you knew exactly what the consequences were if you continued.

DOES YOUR CHAIR COME WITH A WARNING LABEL THAT TELLS YOU WHAT PROLONGED SITTING CAN DO TO YOUR HEALTH?

Anyway where was I…. right, so Jack calls me from the local Brooklyn EMERGENCY room doubled over screaming in back pain as his wife sends me a whatsapp video of him lying in a hospital stretcher on his stomach to try to relieve his Lower Back Pain. It’s crazy but all Jack got after three long painful hours was some motrin 800 mg (ibuprofen horse pills) which did absolutely nothing for him.

I was thinking to myself, Jack was one of the millions of people suffering from an EPIDEMIC in this country that modern medicine has no cure for….LOWER BACK PAIN.   Why go to the ER , I asked his wife as I could barely stay awake.   I could hear Jack moaning and groaning in the background.. and you know what she said to me and it was a typical response “ we did not know how to handle the pain that we figured the ER was the place to go.” She then blurted out in frustration…….

THE DOCTOR WANTS HIM TO STAY OVERNIGHT AND RUN CATSCANS AND MRIS ON HIS BACK!

Wow! For what, just so that they could bill him for a night at the hospital and max out his savings. This would cost him at least $2000.00 to stay at the hospital just for a few over the counter pills. No WAY!

Do you know what happened next ?  As tired as I was, I jumped on SKYPE with Jack and asked him his exact symptoms what he was feeling and where the exact pain was. We did a TeleHealth session via Skype for 30 minutes and I was able to show Jack “self back decompression exercises” over Skype. Guess what happened next — JACK WAS ABLE TO GET UP FROM THAT HOSPITAL BED AND WALK OUT OF THE ER PAINFREE!!

WHAT? NO WAY – THERE IS NO WAY ANYONE CAN SKYPE AND “TELL YOU HOW TO DO SELF PHYSICAL THERAPY’

He did not know that he could actually FIX HIS OWN BACK,  Actually 80% of us can self TREAT our own Backs with the right instruction from a Physical Therapist who is trained in the Mckenzie Method or SFMA system.  And 80% of back pain can rapidly respond and improve if the right movement correction is instructed by the Therapist.

SITTING IS THE NEW SMOKING

Jack came to ALLCARE Physical Therapy after that day and learned how to sit properly with the safest alignment for his SPINE.   We also taught him a few sellf corrective exercises that he could do to RESET normal movement throughout the day,  so that sitting would not eventually cause him further damage and pain.

If you SIT all day long you owe it to your health, to get evaluated by a Physical Therapist who is innovative and blending  the newest in Pain Science research , SFMA , Mckenzie and Postural Correction systems into one approach..  We believe that anyone can learn how to self treat and reset, restore and keep the normal healthy motion in their nervous system and joints. At ALLCARE Physical Therapy Brooklyn we are that innovative team of Therapists that you can count on to keep you moving your best and safest.  Give us a call today for a FREE Screening and we can teach you how to sit  properly for better health.