Reduce Pain Tip #1: Choose To Sit Less
If you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, it’s time to take responsibility. It’s easy to blame our pain on our external environment or the things that have happened to us, but quality of living is actually a choice. Don’t be a victim to pain. We decide how we move, think and act. For better or worse.
So lets consider making some important daily decisions to help with that chronic pain.
There are three reasons we experience pain:
We don’t move enough.
We don’t move well.
We are not mindful about 1 & 2.
So what's the solution?
Well, logically we need to move more, move better and pay attention. How do we do that? One simple step in the right direction is to reduce the amount of optional sitting.
You’ve probably started to hear the phrase ‘sitting is the new smoking’. There certainly is some merit to this statement. Studies have demonstrated that sitting is associated with ailments such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and a variety of orthopedic problems that cause chronic pain. Experts would argue that sitting can and will shorten your life.
Maybe you can’t understand the correlation between sitting and disease, but I’m sure you can agree that when you sit for long periods of time, your body gets pissed off. The human body conforms to the position we put it in most often. Long bouts of sitting give us tight hips, sore necks and stiff backs. If you suffer from chronic pain, I will definitely encourage you to consider that sitting is part of the problem.
It’s not just sitting, though. Staying in any position for too long is going to be detrimental to the body. So we need to shake things up.
Here are some behaviours that can help:
Stand up and move every 30 minutes. Set a timer.
Invest in a standing desk. You’ll still need to move every 30 minutes. Set a timer.
Commit to standing up during specific tasks- phone calls, responding to emails, texting, etc.
Whatever position you are in, be mindful of your posture (feet, pelvis, spine, shoulders and neck).
Instead of watching TV, go for a walk outside.
Engage in 10-15 minutes of daily mobility drills to help bring your body back to alignment.
Choose to sit less and start to pay attention to how it reduces your pain.
Meditate. You’ll be amazed how this can help you become more mindful of your body.
Be that weirdo. Take pride in being ‘that guy’ who does all of these non-conventional things and lives a life without pain.
I try to practice what I preach. That means while I’m writing this, I have a timer every 30 minutes telling me to go roll on the floor and do some animal flow movements.
Are you ready to take responsibility for the way you choose to live?
Understand that quality of life is not guaranteed, so don’t take the path of least resistance and be in pain like everybody else. Pain is the easy way out. Choose to be different and put in the daily efforts until they become a habit. It takes short-term discomfort to achieve long-term success. So let’s break through that comfort zone and take a peak at what’s on the other side.
Always remember, motion is lotion. We encourage you to Move well. Live well.™