At Paleo f(x)™ 2014 conference my wife and I gave a presentation titled “How to Stand Up Straight in a World That Sits.” We were very grateful for the opportunity to speak on this topic and as Doctors of Physical Therapy we see this as a huge “blind spot” for most people.
Many recognize that nutrition, exercise, sleep, and reducing stress levels are all important components for living a healthy lifestyle. Most don’t realize that chronic sitting is an area that is likely undermining their health. Too many of us sit all day, and are missing an opportunity to undo the associated damage with something as simple as a foam roller.
Chronic sitting 6-8 hours per day increases the likelihood you will experience the following: acute or chronic pain, loss of functional mobility over time, increased risk for developing chronic disease conditions (type II diabetes, heart disease, obesity, etc.), increased mortality risk and negative effects on your emotions, behaviors and hormone levels.
Pretty crazy, huh?! Bottom-line: for those seeking to optimize health and well-being throughout their life, this is most definitely an area that needs to be addressed and recognized as an important part of the health equation.
The feedback we got from the talk was great and it got us motivated to share more on this topic. For the past 9 months, we’ve buried our heads in research, thought about how we could make a dent in the universe and said it’s time to “DO THE WORK.”
What came out of all this was The Sitting Solution which is the ultimate guide to resolving your pain, restoring your posture and fixing your sitting problem. We have written this e-book to raise awareness about the sitting problem, empower and inspire people to take action, and give them the practical tools to do so. In other words, we help prevent people from ending up like the figure on the RIGHT and helping them return back to the figure on the LEFT.
In the spirit of giving people the practical tools to make positive change, I’d like to offer 2 things you should be doing on a foam roller (that you’re probably not doing).
Foam rolling seems to have really taken off lately, but there are a couple of ways you can use a foam roll that you may not know about. I want to teach you a few exercises that can make a HUGE difference in terms of improving your musculoskeletal health, functional mobility and decreasing/preventing pain.
Check out the video below and I’ll show you what I’m talking about:
I hope you got something out of the video and are able to put it to good use!
Also, if you’re looking for more solutions (we’ve got a bunch) then definitely pick up a copy of our book The Sitting Solution! We’re extremely excited about it and we know it can help you stay upright in a world that chronically sits.
If you’re looking for the Foam Roll that Chad uses in the video, here it is.
