How to Protect Your Back While Lifting & Carrying Heavy Objects
When you really think about it, the back and spine are two of the most used areas of the entire body. As a result of this, they often tend to take the most amount of strain, pressure, and stress from the body, which would certainly explain why back pain is one of the most common causes of doctor’s visits in the United States every year.
As you can no doubt imagine, it is pretty common for people to “throw out” their back muscles by attempting to lift and carry heavy objects. This often happens because many people simply do not know about the proper precautions to take before and during these kinds of tasks. Since so many of us will inevitably end up needing to transport heavy objects at some point or another, it is pretty important for us to know sooner rather than later how to keep our backs and spines supported at all times, in order to prevent strains or even more serious injuries from occurring. This is why I was glad to come across a very helpful and informative post by How Stuff Works that provides some great tips, tricks, and advice on how to protect the back and spinal column while lifting and carrying heavy objects. Keep on reading further to expand your own knowledge on this important topic.
The very first thing you should do before preparing to lift a heavy object is to be honest with yourself and to make sure that you are capable of safely handling the task, or if it is best left to another person or group of people. Try pushing the object with your foot to test out its weight. If you know you can lift it based on this, go ahead. The most important thing to remember is to keep your back and spine straight at all times; to do this, when you bend down to the object, be sure to end up in a squatting position. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart with your shoulders rolled back. Once you are ready to lift, use the muscles in your legs to do so. Keep the object close to your body, since holding it farther away just adds even more tension to the spine. When you set it down, use the same squatting position to do so.
If you find yourself doing a lot of heavy lifting, you may want to consider receiving chiropractic adjustments on a regular basis in order to keep your spine strong and stable. Chiropractic care can improve the health and strength of your back muscles so that you are less likely to strain or injure them later on.
Used under Creative Commons Licensing courtesy of Sasha Kargaltsev
