PAIN PREVENTION while sitting

This is dedicated to Marti Bedell and her real estate team!

Do you sit a lot at work? Do you drive a lot at work? Excessive sitting over a lifetime can lead to back problems later in life. This is especially true if you habitually slouch. So how can you maintain a HEALTHY BACK over a lifetime of sitting?

First, try not to sit all day. Are there a few activities that you could do standing up? Mail, email, phone calls, etc? If you have a desk job, you are likely in the habit of sitting for almost all your daily tasks. But if you are creative, you could easily find at least a few minutes each hour to either stand or walk around.

Second, whenever you sit, be sure to sit with good posture. There should be a small arch in your low back, and your neck should not be strained forward. Your shoulders should be relaxed, and your forearms resting on your desk or keyboard. Your wrists should be straight.

Happy sitting (and standing)!

Neck pain prevention for a multi-computer work station

If you work at a desk where you have to read multiple computer monitors, here are some posture/body mechanics tips!

1. Get a chair that can easily raise up and down (the more it can go up the better). Be sure when you have to look up to raise the height of the chair so that you can look more straight forward. Or if you have to, maybe stand sometimes, when you have to read the higher monitors.

2. Get a chair that rolls easily, so that you can roll side to side when reading monitors that are farther away from the middle.

3. Get a wireless keyboard so that you can have it on your lap when you have to scoot toward the sides of the desk.

4. Get several wireless mice and position them on different parts of the table.

5. Stand up or walk around at least 1-2x every hour.

6. Consider a keyboard slideout mechanism (at least one for the center part of the desk) and maybe even 2-3 of them for when you scoot to different parts of the desk.

7. Keep your neck in a neutral position. Try not to strain your neck forward. Keep your ears lined up with your shoulders.

8. Make sure your shoulders are in a relaxed position while you are sitting/typing. You should not have your shoulders shrugged up when sitting at the compter.

9. Use a lumbar roll for low back support (or roll up a towel and place it behind your low back) when sitting to help your posture (from the bottom up).

I am happy to welcome comments/questions!

Low Back Pain with laundry

Home chores, if done incorrectly, can cause major low back pain. I personally know many people who have injured their backs in this way. So what are some specific housework activities that you should check your body mechanics for? Today let's focus on laundry! Even if you do not do the laundry, these are still tips you can use with other activities.

When loading the washing machine, keep your back straight! Pick up the entire basket (via squatting, not bending) and hold it in front of you at waist height, while loading the clothes. You can use one leg to help hold the basket between your body and the front of the washer. Another option is to do your squats for the day and squat down several times (without bending your back forward) to pick up the clothes out of the basket. Another option is to carefully lift the entire basket and pour all the clothes into the washer. Just remember to keep your back straight as you lift and lower the basket.

When taking wet clothes out of the washer, lift one leg back behind you as you lean forward and try to keep the straight position of your spine as you reach down. This is the same technique golfers use when picking up a golf ball. Then stand upright with feet spread apart. Squat with your back straight and toss the clothes into the dryer. Be extra careful not to twist your back during the transfer of clothes from washer to dryer.

To remove clothes from the dryer, either squat, kneel or sit on a step stool in order to keep your back straight. Don't forget to keep your back straight as you lift the full laundry basket (via a squat). And do not twist your back to turn with the basket. Just take small steps whenever you need to turn.

Can you think of housework activities that you have been doing wrong?