I’m very much a “people person” – so I’m delighted to share with you the results of some very interesting research by the British Chiropractic Association.
They managed to get the views of 10,000 people who were asked about their experiences during the first Covid-19 lockdown. For example, how did they manage with changes to their exercise, diet and sleep patterns?
The survey, conducted by OnePoll and the BCA, investigated lifestyle habits and routines to understand the biggest changes to the population’s physical well-being as a result of lockdown and the impact continued restrictions may have.
The study looked at areas including exercise, sedentary habits, sleep quality and diet. Across all age groups, people have been more sedentary since March, on average spending 11 hours a day sitting. All age groups have found exercise the most challenging routine to stick to and that’s what they want to most improve in 2021.
Interestingly, this new research revealed that 18 to 24-year-olds have experienced the biggest impact to their physical well-being, as a result of lockdown lifestyle changes. Most chiropractic patients have successfully set new routines for themselves with this younger age group the most proactive – but they’ve also been the worst at sticking to a new regime.
The figures show that 79% have now dropped the schedules they had set up in March, when the first lockdown began.
There are so many great nuggets of information contained within this report and I wanted to share just a few of them here:
- Nearly two thirds (57%) of people are spending more time sitting down than before lockdown and only a third have kept to their well-being routines.
- Men are 41% more likely to stick to new routines than women (23%).
- Exercise and getting outside each day are the hardest routines to stick to, with 42% not finding time for these during the week.
- With 43% of us working from home during lockdown, more than a quarter have
experienced new symptoms of back, shoulder and neck pain.
- To manage feelings of tension and back pain, 25% of people have purchased self-support tools, 15% have consulted their GP and 10% have consulted with a chiropractor – nearly half of those polled haven’t sought any support yet (46%).
While facts and figures are useful, nothing quite beats coming up with a plan of action and sticking to it!
At Cleve Chiropractic, we’re privileged to have Catherine Quinn, the current BCA president, among our team of consultants – and she’s been busy drawing up a list of helpful tips to promote better back health:
- Build a routine that’s realistic and works for your lifestyle. Incorporating movement into your day is so important, but many of us set unmanageable goals for exercise.
- Our bodies love variation, so try to mix up the position you work in – if you work at a desk or table, consider a laptop stand which will allow you work standing up.
- A great night’s sleep is a game changer – it’s all too easy to scroll through TikTok and Instagram reels when you’re in bed. Try to protect the hour before you go to bed as your personal wind down time and avoid blue light tech.
- With changing lockdown restrictions and generally poorer weather on the way, getting outside to exercise or going to the gym is harder. To look after your back health there are lots of easy exercises you can do at home.
We’ve created some bitesize videos with simple stretches and exercises. You can find them On our Facebook page, under the videos tab.
Finally, I’m delighted to say that we have remained open during this second lockdown. We have all the required PPE and risk assessments in place – we’re very COVID secure and many patients have remarked on how safe and clean the clinic feels.
