First, I will discuss posture because it is a HUGE factor associated with daily pain and chronic injuries. As people age, they begin to develop a forward head posture and rounded shoulders if they are unaware of their body position while sitting at a computer, school desk, standing to do the dishes, or even while eating at the dinner table. Most people begin to slouch secondary to decreased core strength and it seems "more comfortable" as we get fatigued or even lazy throughout the day. I will admit that as the day goes on, my posture begins to fail because I am tired. Let's be real here, who doesn't get tired? That is not an excuse though because your body will pay for it later! WeThe key things to keep in mind is that your head should be directly over your shoulders...and when I say this, it means your ears should be located over your shoulders. Next, your shoulders should be in line with your hips and then your hips in line with your ankles with equal weight on both feet. This promotes proper posture and helps prevent neck and low back pain from occurring, especially if you are seated or standing for long periods of time during the day for work or daily tasks throughout the house. A good thing to do is reassess your posture every 15 minutes. It takes 10 seconds to realize where your body is in space and adjust it accordingly. If your posture is faulty throughout your life, this leads to changes in the spine, pain, and tight chest musculature. To put things in perspective, your head weighs about 10-13 pounds and if it is forward at all it can put up to 3x that weight (about 30 pounds) of pressure on the muscles in your neck and upper back. Just think of all the energy your body could preserve if you had good posture! These things can be prevented with a simple assessment of your posture throughout the day. If you already have rounded shoulders, it is important to start doing a chest stretch. Below is a picture of a chest stretch in the corner that can also be performed in a doorway if you place your forearms on the wall or door frame and place one foot in front of the other and lean forward. This stretch should be gentle and not painful. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat 3 times up to 2-3 times a day to help decrease rounded shoulders.
The next thing I will discuss is lifting mechanics. Many people will use faulty body mechancis to lift an object, even as light as a pencil, however, this can still result in a "bulging disc". There are "jelly donut-like" structures between each vertebrae in the spine that help absort shock between each bone and these are called intervertebral discs. People lose up to 3/4 of an inch in height each day as gravity pulls on these discs and drains their water content....but don't worry because you gain your height back when laying down to sleep at night! (Kinda cool, huh??) As time goes on, however, your discs do lose water content and that is why elderly people seem to "shrink" and are shorter than they used to be. Postural changes play a big role in that too....so looks like you better start early on prevention! To prevent yourself from back injury, it is important to follow these simple rules while lifting an object, no matter how heavy it is. There are two main ways to lift up an object. (See below paragraph for pictures of both strategies) The first way is the bend at the knees with a wide base of support, keeping the object close to your body. With this strategy, you want to be sure to keep your spine in a neutral position and tighten your abdominal muscles while using your legs to push up from the ground and lift the object. The second strategy is the "hip hinge". This strategy can be used if you have painful knees. To perform this properly, you must keep your back flat and bend completely at your hips while maintaining a slight knee bend. Again, it is always important to keep the object close to your body. If you go to lift up a 5 pound object and hold it directly out in front of you, instead of close to your body, it will add up to 10x that weight in pressure on your spine (up to 50 pounds in this case). Another thing to remember is not to rotate at the spine when holding or moving an object. Instead of rotating your spine, you should rotate your entire body. When carrying an object, you should avoid over-extending or over-bending of your low back, as well as shrugging your shoulders in order to keep pressure off of muscles that can easily be irritated. When pushing or pulling an object, keep in mind that pushing is easier than pulling and you should keep loads close and maintain a neutral curve in your spine while tightening your core musculature. These simple things can help save yourself from a lifetime of back injuries!
Strategy 1: Knee bend Strategy 2: Hip hinge
Lastly, I will talk about shoveling! For all those people in Wisconsin, we know how this simple task can turn into a nightmare and loads of back pain and sore muscles the next day. The key things to remember with shoveling, I have already discussed above. Simple to remember then, huh? As a reminder, the main thing is to keep the load close to you, bend at the knees, and don't rotate at your spine. Most people, me included, have tried to shovel and when tired, we tend to want to just throw the snow by rotating to the side....this is very BAD and creates injuries and sore backs the next day. Always rotate your entire body if you want to move the snow. Please remember these simple things next time you go out to shovel.
Hope this was helpful! Please feel free to comment or ask questions. I treat all sorts of neck and back injuries at the clinic here in Madison, so if you need a physical therapist, see your doctor for a script today and let me help you get rid of your pain and prevent future injuries!
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