Vim & Vigor - Spring 2021 - 14

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a bit; if it's too low, it will cause you
to look down with your neck, " says
Nick Clayton, a personal trainer and
former personal training program
manager for the National Strength
and Conditioning Association. " If the
mouse is out too far, you'll be reaching and rotating from one side. We
see a lot of clients with elbow tendinitis or wrist issues, and a lot of times
it's just the ergonomics of their work. "
Sitting too long also puts strain
on the body.
" When we sit, we're supported
by the chair, but we're not sitting
upright-we're leaning on tendons
and ligaments, and putting bones in
bad positions, " Clayton says. " You're
essentially training the wrong muscles to hold you in bad positions. "

The Toll of Tech

SPRING 2021 VIM & VIGOR

We sit, a lot. To work, to learn,
to drive, to stream the latest
TV series. The problem is our
muscles weren't designed
to be firing while in a static
position, says Ward Gypson,
MD, a UVA Health physical
medicine and rehabilitation
physician. It's the reason so
many of us experience knotted, painful muscles and low
back spasms.
" Muscles were built to
contract and then release
to restore blood flow. When
we're sitting at a desk, our
postural muscles are working
the entire time, but they are
working in isometric contractions. Blood flow is inhibited,
so muscles start to fatigue
quickly, and lactic acid builds
up, " Dr. Gypson explains.
" When muscle discomfort
reaches a threshold, your
nervous system starts to
register that there could be
something wrong there, " Dr.
Gypson adds. " It treats pain
as an injury and will trigger
some reflex muscle guarding,
sort of like a cast or splint, to
protect that area. "
Fortunately, Dr. Gypson
can help break this chronic
pain cycle with a number of
treatments, including acupuncture. There is also an easy
way to avoid this situation:
" I tell people to take frequent
breaks from the same sitting
position, " he says. " Not a long
coffee break. Just 20 or 30
seconds to do some gentle
stretching and get blood flowing to the muscles. "
PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES

Smartphones keep us connected to
people we love. They deliver news
via podcasts and newspaper apps.
They entertain us and help us monitor our health-there are apps that
track sleep, heart rate and minutes
spent meditating.
But they also can be all-consuming.
We text. We tweet. We swipe left,
right, up, down on purchases, games,
social media and dating apps. We
scroll, scroll, scroll. And all the
while, our heads are lowered, and
our thumbs are moving in the same,
repetitive motion. Swipe, scroll,
swipe, scroll.
" If you swipe on your cellphone
from the bottom of your cell to the
top of your cell with your thumb,
that is a pretty extreme range of
motion for your thumb to do, "
Zavitz says. " People develop problems just from swiping. "
Studies on injuries associated
with that swipe-nicknamed " texting thumb " by some researchers-
have found that the risk of injury
varies. In a study published in 2010,
researchers attached electrodes
to participants' arms, backs and

Short Breaks
Undo Sitting's
Damage
Vim & Vigor - Spring 2021

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