Enlightenment of chronic disease prevention from “Jiu Zuo Shang Rou (Long-time Sitting Damages Muscles)”: integrated traditional with modern perspectives

Abstract

Thousands of years ago, the conception of “Jiu Zuo (久坐)” which can be translated as long-time sitting, has been generated by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) physicians. It was clearly recorded that “Jiu Zuo Shang Rou (久坐伤肉)” in the ancient book Huang Di Nei Jing (Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon). TCM physicians believe that long-time sitting can affect the normal circulation of the body’s qi and blood, injures the muscles and dysfunctions the spleen, then cause diseases. Recent years, biomedicine evidences that sedentary behavior, which includes sitting, will affect the endocrine, metabolism, and other physiological functions of human body, leading to chronic diseases possibly. This paper attempts to systematically recapitulate both the ancient records of Jiu Zuo Damages and the latest research of sedentary sitting diseases, enabling better understandings of the relationships between sedentary behavior and health status from both traditional and modern medicinal perspectives. Going beyond this, this work may extend the applications of TCM “Zhi Wei Bing (治未病)” theory in the field of chronic disease prevention and treatment, bringing great benefits to national and local population’s health.