Minimizing the Impact of Fall Tasks on Your Back Pain

Fall is a common time to hurt your back and your spine. How? Think of all the tasks we do as we put the boats to bed, clean up the lawn and winterize our cabins. Here are some tips to keep your fall tasks from causing back pain.

The biggest tip that I can give you and certainly the easiest….simply get help. It is tempting to try to muscle a canoe into the garage yourself thinking that you are saving time, however lifting something big and awkward is a much more spine friendly activity when done with a helper.

When you are taking in your dock for the winter and with all lifting of awkward objects, make sure to lift with your knees and not with your back. Considering lifting heavy objects, make sure you move your feet when you turn because flexion and rotation is the weakest point for the discs in your back. Also, try to avoid a heavy wind day when the pieces of the dock are able to catch wind and take off like a sail. All the extra torque on your back when that happens can easily throw you off balance and cause you pain. Anything you can do to lessen the distance that you have to carry those big heavy pieces will also help such as floating them or using a two wheel cart.

If you are doing a lot of lawn cleanup, make sure to switch hands with the rake or shovel. Raking on the same side for hours on end will cause pain and also a lot of stress to your rotator cuff.

If you manage to hurt your back, at Active Family Chiropractic we are here to help. If you need to speak with me on the phone or schedule an appointment, I am available at 763-553-0387. Please check out our website www.activefamilychiropractic.com for more details.

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