Safety Tidbit 3.46 - Back Safety

Safety Tidbit 3.46 – Back Safety

Reference:        Low Back Pain Fact Sheet - NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders

As many of you know, my wife and I are moving to Indiana PA. We’ve been busy packing everything in our home into boxes (and doing a lot of sorting!). We staged all of the boxes in the garage, tonight we pack them into a U-Haul truck and tomorrow will take them to a storage unit in Indiana until we get our new home later in the month after our vacation. Moving all those boxes and as a chronic sufferer made me think of back safety.

According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were more than 1 million back injuries or nearly 20 percent of all the injuries and illnesses in the workplace. There are ways to strengthen your back to help keep it healthy. Below is a list of some recommendations published by the National Institute for Health - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke:

• Always stretch before exercise or other strenuous physical activity.
• Don’t slouch when standing or sitting. The lower back can support a person’s weight most easily when the curvature is reduced. When standing, keep your weight balanced on your feet.
• At home or work, make sure work surfaces are at a comfortable height.
• Sit in a chair with good lumbar support and proper position and height for the task. Keep shoulders back. Switch sitting positions often and periodically walk around the office or gently stretch muscles to relieve tension. A pillow or rolled-up towel placed behind the small of the back can provide some lumbar support. During prolonged periods of sitting, elevate feet on a low stool or a stack of books.
• Wear comfortable, low-heeled shoes.
• Sleeping on one’s side with the knees drawn up in a fetal position can help open up the joints in the spine and relieve pressure by reducing the curvature of the spine. Always sleep on a firm surface.
• Don’t try to lift objects that are too heavy. Lift from the knees, pull the stomach muscles in, and keep the head down and in line with a straight back. When lifting, keep objects close to the body. Do not twist when lifting.
• Maintain proper nutrition and diet to reduce and prevent excessive weight gain, especially weight around the waistline that taxes lower back muscles. A diet with sufficient daily intake of calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D helps to promote new bone growth.
• Quit smoking. Smoking reduces blood flow to the lower spine, which can contribute to spinal disc degeneration. Smoking also increases the risk of osteoporosis and impedes healing. Coughing due to heavy smoking also may cause back pain.

Hope this was helpful and thank you for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan

P.S. If you have an interesting safety or health question please let me know.