Wrist Pain? Some solutions are at hand!

Custodial/janitorial personnel experience a lot of material handling and repetitive activities daily.  Recently we encountered a hospital janitor who was about to file an injury claim because of a painful wrist.  He attended our Backsafe® workshop and reported that within just days of injury prevention training, he could again experience the joy of picking up his young daughter, pain-free.

His particular malady was caused by improper wrist position while buffing the hospital’s floors.  He was exerting force and sustaining bad wrist position for long durations while operating his buffer machine.  Add vibration to the mix and it caused enough pain and inflammation to ruin his peace of mind and life style. 

A key datum to know is: whenever possible, keep your wrist straight.  This particular person worked with his wrists in extension (hands bent up higher that his wrists). 

The muscles that move your fingers are in your forearms and when your wrists are in extension, this contracts the muscle on the topside of your forearms.  When chronically in this posture, fatigue, discomfort, pain and eventually injury can surely occur. 

So, while you’re at work buffing floors; breaking up concrete with a jack hammer; using other power tools; or typing on a keyboard, keep your wrists straight. 

At home, the same rule applies.  

The importance of stretching cannot be overstated as well.  A brief and simple stretch can bring some relief.  Gently flex your wrists up and down—extra stretch can be attained by using the opposite hand to slowly pull fingers back towards forearm; and conversely, pull fingers towards the underside of your forearm.  If you experience any pain while doing this, stop immediately and seek a doctor’s advice.  

You can be in charge of your own well-being.  It is not your doctor’s job—it is yours.  Your doctor helps you if you become injured or sick.  You can be in charge of preventing injuries!

Roof Top Exposure

Looking out the office window I spied a team of roofers stripping a damaged roof, repairing it and re-shingling.  The sight of 12 men on a steep roof, with very few safety precautions in place gave me heart palpitations—a slight fear of heights revisited perhaps?!

Setting aside the slips/falls risk, I observed several shockingly egregious biomechanical no-nos.   Here you can see the torqueing whilst lifting heavy, bulky packages of roofing materials; bending at the waist, as opposed to lifting correctly…can you spot some additional safety offenses? 

It made me think about the diversity of job tasks and the epidemic of ignorance of proper biomechanics, and by ignorance I mean that people just don’t know!

Each of these roofers is important to someone—as a father, husband, friend, son, brother, co-worker.  When (and it is a near certainty that an injury will occur with the every day strain he places upon himself with poor biomechanics) he becomes injured, each of these people will be adversely affected.  Not to mention the poor injured soul who thinks that the injury occurred because of an isolated action.  He won’t know that it was repeated at-risk motions that gradually wore his body down until it gave in to the damage.  He won’t know that the injury could have been prevented.  And, most unfortunate, he’ll likely return to the same job with the same bad habits and become re-injured.  Thus, the tragic cycle of injury-work comp—re-injury and thus the business owner’s workers’ comp premium skyrockets. 

So, now I’ll step down from my soapbox and talk about solutions…

1. Stretch muscles before, during and after repeated and/or strenuous activities.  These stretches don’t take much time, they are simple and most importantly, they are effective!
2. Always Face the Load When Lifting. This mantra reflects the spine’s desire to NOT twist!
3. Keep the Load Close to Your Body.  Reaching out from your body puts incrementally more and more pressure on your spine—again, it does NOT like this!
4. Keep Your Head Level While Lifting.  This helps to keep the naturally occurring curves in your spine in the correct position.
5. Wear some type of safety harness while working on high, unprotected surfaces, like a ROOF!

So, these are the tips that I share with you from these photos.  Have you got some good ones to add to my list?  Let’s hear ‘em!

Summer Time and Correct Lifting

It is summertime, a time when outdoor activity increases significantly.  It is the season for barbeques, beaches, yard work, golf and perhaps just settling in a lawn chaise to read a good book.

None of these activities are pleasurable when you have a painful back!  Do you know that most back injuries are caused by physical stress that innocently accumulates over time?   That’s right!  Chances are you were never taught how to do typical daily activities like getting in and out of a car; lifting a cooler into and out of a trunk; lifting kids or laundry; or how to shovel dirt in your garden.  80% of us will have a back incident in our lives due to improper usage of our bodies!  The good news is this means that life altering back pain is preventable! 

The first thing to know is that you can have control over whether or not you will ever have a back injury by simply learning more about what our backs like and don’t like.  Preventing the little daily innocent stresses that add up to eventually cause you pain is key.  

Here is a suggestion that you can work on.  Do NOT “hinge” at the waist when lifting.  Your lower back does not like when you bend over to lift something.  It can cause significant and continuous pressure on your lumbar spine and disks.  Your “lumbar curve” should be maintained as much as possible when lifting, thus the adage: “use your legs” when lifting.  By planning ahead you can frequently avoid lifting from the ground.  Before loading the cooler, place the empty cooler on a table or raised surface–anything that will help you to avoid bending.  When re-potting plants, don’t do it on the ground, have a table or bench or something that helps you to maintain an upright position.  

Do this simple exercise to help you break the habit of bending over when lifting.  In order for you to recognize the perilous behavior, stand up and bend slightly at the waist.  Remember, this is an at-risk motion so bend minimally so that you can experience the feeling of what you should NOT be doing!  Good!  Now that you know how this feels, you will be more aware when you lift incorrectly so that you can catch yourself and do it more safely. 

Next, place your feet shoulder width apart for good balance and elevate up and down without bending at the waist.  This is the optimum lifting stance.  My guess is that you just realized that you bend at the waist a lot!  This is a main reason why countless lives are ruined by back injuries. 

Use your legs to raise and lower your body, not your back.  Each time you do this you will be strengthening and toning your leg muscles versus weakening and hurting your back. 

Thinking ahead a little and using correct lifting techniques can become a life long habit.  If you need more information or help, we’d be happy to assist!  Good luck!

Spitting Cobras lead to carpal tunnel! Wait! What?

Where are the muscles that move your fingers and why is it important to know?  They are in your forearm.  These muscles transition into tendons that go through the wrist joint and attach to your finger bones—in layman’s terms.

 “Keep your wrists straight while typing” is a key principle in our office ergonomics program—Sittingsafe®.  You want to minimize friction and resistance in your wrist area to prevent accumulated repetitive stress. 

 This is why we don’t want you using those darn “feet” in the back of the keyboard!  When these are utilized, the back of your keyboard is raised, which in turn, forces your wrists to bend (spitting cobra style!).  If anything, the front of your keyboard should be raised so that your wrists can stay straight.  Your keyboard is at the correct height when your hands are slightly below your elbows when typing. 

 F.I.T. Rule:  “Keep wrists straight” and not just when typing.

 We have helped prevent surgeries for those that work on computers, buff floors, use jackhammers, and in countless manufacturing jobs.  Hand and wrist pain can alter your lifestyle considerably.  Use these tips to help keep you happy, healthy and in the game!

 Let us know if this helps!

June is NATIONAL EMPLOYEE WELLNESS month!

Did you know that June is National Employee Wellness Month?  F.I.T. has been preventing back injuries within corporate America now for 17 years by imbuing a wellness approach to workers’ comp cost abatement.

 We have focused our programs (Backsafe® and Sittingsafe®) on the belief that in order to prevent work related injuries, you must also include how to prevent off work injuries too.  After all, your spine and other body parts register physical stress no matter what you are doing.

The first thing we accomplish in our training is to establish a “personal wellness attitude”.  There are too many instances in our society where people are treated as victims of their environment.  Aches and pains are explained as “it’s just part of the job” or part of the “aging process”. 

 In a recent Sittingsafe Ergonomic Workshop, one employee stated:  “it is about time someone told me how I can help prevent aches and pains.”

 Employees do not want to be in pain.  Teaching people that they can have a say in how they feel is very empowering.

 A simple tip that can make a huge difference to those who work on a computer at home or work is the following:

Never reach for your keyboard!  Your arms can weigh up to 12-15% of your body weight.  Keep your elbows by your side while typing.  This will help prevent neck and should discomfort and may even help you get rid of dull, tension related headaches!

 Have you thought about strategies to enhance your employees’ wellness?  If you need some help, let us know.  We have years of experience in industry across the board.

My achin’ neck/back/shoulders etc…and what to do about it!

Many of us who sit and work at a computer all day may not realize it, but how we go about this can dramatically affect our quality of life.

Neck, shoulder, wrist, back pain and even mild or acute headaches can be the result of having your computer, keyboard, or mouse in the wrong position.

Isn’t it amazing that nowhere in our educational system were we ever taught how to use our bodies correctly, while we perform simple activities of daily living?

Here are a few tips to put you in more control of how you feel. 

Standard Size Monitor height—the top of the screen should be at eye level.  You should be able to read your screen without tilting your head up or down.  This can be adjusted by something as low tech as a phone book—finally there’s use for the good ol’ phone book you have hanging around!

Monitor distance—your monitor should be at a position that allows you to easily read comfortably–approximately an arm’s length away.  If it is too far away you will reach your head out towards the screen to see it better.  This “forward head posture” is pandemic with today’s office worker and is a major cause of neck and shoulder discomfort and can cause headaches.  Move your monitor closer or even increase your font size (!) if you need to, in order to prevent you from jutting your chin towards your monitor.

 

Our Sittingsafe® Office ergonomic workshop teaches employees how to adjust their workstation correctly for their bodies, in order to eliminate insidious physical tension that can accumulate over time from improper computer use.  Please contact us, we can help!

Take a load off…backpack style!

During one of our recent Sittingsafe® ergonomic training sessions an employee told me about her 12-year-old daughter and the backpack that she lugs to and from school everyday.  This particular youngster, according to her mother, was tall for her age and slouched when she walked with her backpack.

The mother weighed the backpack and found it weighed 28 pounds!

The following are rules to live by if you or a loved one uses a backpack:

• Only carry what you need to minimize the weight.
• Keep heavier objects on the bottom and equally balanced from side to side.
• When getting contents in or out of the backpack, place it on a desk or table if possible rather than the floor.  The higher surface will prevent you from stooping.
• Never twist when putting it on or taking it off.
• When putting it on, lift it to the top of a desk or table first, then place your arms through the straps.  This lightens the load on your spine and helps prevent twisting.
• Do not bend at the waist.  We call this “hinging”.  It is not good for your back.  Instead bend your knees and go up and down—think elevator, NOT crane!  Bending at the waist continually while lifting may not cause symptoms when you are young, but can contribute to painful and life altering back injuries when you get older.
• We suggest doing a brief back extension stretch after taking off a backpack to relieve tired muscles.  Place your hands on your hips, gently push down, pull shoulders backward and raise chest upward while arching back.

 Have you found any other good tips for handling heavy, bulky backpacks? We’d love to hear about them.

What other topics would you like to read about?  We welcome feedback and suggestions.  Thanks!

How to Lift a Child Safely…

On a recent visit to the grocery store I saw a mother lifting her young child from the car seat—specifically the middle, back seat.

 My back ached just watching her bend, twist and lift all while being in a compromised position.

 Here is a useful tip to help prevent a back injury while lifting your child from their car seat:

 If your child is old enough to help, invite your child to participate.  Lifting a 2, 3, 4 year old child from the center back seat without the child’s participation calls for the parent to reach while lifting, which is unsafe even with relatively light weight involved.  Try this next time.  When taking the child out of the car, step into the car with one leg, lean your body towards your child and ask him/her to reach and hold onto your neck.  Having the child reach towards you allows you to keep your back straight, your arms close to your body and with your child initiating the motion this helps decrease the amount of force you need to exert to lift your child.  Keep your head up, arms close to your body and never twist.

 An added tip that is very beneficial particularly if you have driven for any length of time: always do a quick back extension when you get out of the car before attempting to lift anything or anyone.  This helps to prepare your body for exertion and feels really good!

 Coming soon…suggestions about children’s backpacks!

 We love feedback!  Please comment, question, suggest future topics…it’s all good!

John Lennon, Myopia and the Power of Decision

John Lennon wrote in his song “Beautiful Boy”:  “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans”.  I remember these lyrics from years ago and found them to be quite profound.  Today I find that this concept—“life can happen to us”—relates quite well to those that manage workers’ comp programs.

Have you ever known anyone whose life seems to go like an empty canoe going down the rapids?  Life tends to control them versus the other way around?  This can lead to some pretty stressful living and can result in one becoming quite unhappy.

On the other end of the scale is the person that seems to direct their lives like a well-trained pilot, making it seem easy.  They seem to be “happening to life” versus the random and unpredictable inverse of that.  These people are usually successful in what they do and are much happier for it.

If “life happens” to a company too often then management is not effectively managing, and the organization’s profits are thus affected accordingly.  A test of good management is how well they control their areas of responsibility despite problems that inevitably present themselves.

You can do this simple exercise to feel the effects of “life happening to you” and then turn it around to “you happening to it”.  There is probably something on your desk that you have not done because you just haven’t wanted to confront it yet.  To the degree that it needs to be done and remains uncompleted, is to that degree is bearing some type of an effect upon you.  This is a small example of “life happening to you”.  Ok, now decide to confront this task and then do it!  In other words, “happen to it!”

The proof of you “happening to it” is that when you finish the task you will feel better.

The individuals who capably control their departments and attain desirable outcomes are the ones that are most valuable to the organization and thus are the ones that should be and often are paid the most money.

What attributes separate managers that, despite reasons to not succeed, achieve goals as planned versus the manager that gets sidetracked and daunted by “life’s other plans”?

I know we could probably list several attributes that most effective managers possess, however, I believe there is one that trumps them all.

That attribute is their ability to DECIDE!  Perhaps there is nothing more powerful than an unequivocal, pure, unfiltered decision.  We have all heard of the car being lifted off the ground to save someone.  We have heard of inexplicable victories over powerful enemies—1776 comes to mind; and the US Olympic Hockey Team collectively made an unequivocal decision at some point that they would beat the Russians on that remarkable day.

And I have witnessed in myself the final, absolute resolve to finally drop some pounds when I put on the last of my “fat pants” and shockingly even those had “shrunk in the wash”.  Decisions, when made with 100% commitment, are very powerful.

Without that firm, resolute, give-no-quarter, decision to accomplish something, doubts and reservations can creep in and like a tree root heaving open a sidewalk, can derail the best-laid plans.

Most great leaders have an uncanny ability to envision an outcome and to summon enough mental horsepower to know that their vision will in fact become a reality.  This ability is the basis of everything great that has ever been accomplished.  The ability to unequivocally decide on an outcome!

What does this have to do with workers’ comp you ask?  I say:  EVERYTHING!  Workers’ comp in many aspects is a constant fight for control.  It is not a battleground for the meek and faint hearted.  If the workers’ comp manager is the type that lets “life happen while you are busy making other plans”, workers’ comp costs become more bloated than passengers coming off a 2 week Caribbean cruise.

There is something else I have witnessed.  Those companies with high workers’ comp costs are those companies that simply have not truly decided that they want to control costs.  Does that sound ridiculous?  It is not!  Put a bull’s eye on workers’ comp costs with 100% resolve and those costs will go down.  If you are spending too much on workers’ comp that decision has yet to be made.

One of our clients got fed up a few years ago. They were spending $1.4 million on workers’ comp.  That is a lot of money that could be used much more profitably.  That’s what they thought too.  Despite medical costs of claims rising over the last few years, we have helped them drop their workers’ comp to under $300,00 in 2009.  That decision to control costs and to help protect the health of their employees is turning out to be worth millions of dollars over time going towards profit making activities versus unnecessarily burning money in the workers’ comp system.

This new economy is fixing the old malady of workers’ comp myopia.  You can’t continue to have costly claims anymore. Forget it!  Who can afford it?  The new strategy is attacking claims more upstream, so they NEVER HAPPEN in the first place.

We have tremendous success working with companies who decide and commit to stopping back injuries and other sprain/strains.  Once that decision is made, our job of getting employees to change their physical behavior at work and at home is a cinch.

You are only a decision away!  Make it!  Stop workers’ comp costs at the source.  “Stop tomorrow’s injuries today”!  Right now!

Welcome to the Backsafe® Blog

We are excited to launch our new Backsafe® blog!  Especially since April is INJURY PREVENTION MONTH!

Future Industrial Technologies, Inc. is a worldwide leader in Injury Prevention training.  Our practical workshops (Backsafe® and Sittingsafe®) and one-on-one training has saved countless companies millions of dollars on work comp costs and more importantly, relieved many people from pain and fatigue.

This blog will provide information on a variety of topics—work comp, injury prevention, ergonomics, cost cutting tips, etc.  We warmly welcome your feedback, comments, topic suggestions and questions.  Let’s get the conversation started!