Chiropractors are used to hearing complaints about back pain. Nothing new about that. Perhaps the most common cause of this problem is improper lifting.
5 Most Common Lifting Mistakes
- Bending the back
When we slouch or bend our back out of its naturally strong posture, we open ourselves up to injury. This is what we call a ‘spine hinge’.
When lifting things, maintain the curve in your spine to maintain its naturally strong position and avoid injury. Bend at the hips instead.
- Not using legs
The legs have the largest muscles and are best equipped to handle heavy loads.
By bending at the hips, sticking your backside out first, you will use your large muscles to do the lifting, and avoid loading the spine in a way that causes injury.
- Not getting close
As we hold something and lift, the farther away from our centre of gravity, the more strain is going to be placed on our skeletal frame to support the load.
Lifting the load as close to your body as possible is one of the keys to reducing the leverage forces on the spine that contribute to injury.
- Twisting
Bending and twisting together while lifting is a sure fire way to injure your spine. The diagonal alignments of the outer fibres of the discs in your spine are designed to spread load.
However, when twisted under load, half of these fibres become slack, significantly weakening the discs’ load-bearing ability.
Move your legs, not your spine, to help you move from one side to another.
- Carelessness
Not being aware of our backs bending can be the cause of getting injured unnecessarily.
Being conscious of our posture when lifting can be the key to protecting our health and even our livelihoods.
If you are living with chronic pain from a back injury or if you want to insure that you are practicing safe lifting techniques and proper posture, book your appointment with the professionals at Canberra Spine Centre. Contact us today!
Book online or call us on (02) 6257 9400 today!