The theme for this year’s Backcare Awareness Week is Back Pain in Nursing.
It’s Backcare Awareness Week from 5-9 October and this year they’re drawing attention to the alarming fact that nurses experience more back pain than any other profession. A number of studies have found that the risk of experiencing lower back pain in nursing far exceeds industries like construction, that require a lot of heavy lifting. The long hours and daily duties required of a nurse; such as lifting patients in and out of beds and prolonged periods of leaning over, all put enormous strain on the lower back.
However, the physical demands of the job are not the only factor that needs to be considered. Many clinical studies have shown that increasing levels of stress faced by nurses can play a crucial role. This is even more pertinent given the extra strain that our NHS nurses and doctors have been under during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Here at Ultra Sports Clinic, we’ve also seen a rise in the number of patients experiencing lower back pain due to the fact that more of us are working from home. As we discussed in this article back in June, there are a number of factors to consider when working from home, in order to minimise the impact on your body. The ideal desk setup will be different for everybody, but chair and desk height, combined with optimal placement of your monitor, keyboard and mouse are the key fundamentals, as explained by our Clinical Lead Clare Silvester in this video.
Getting your body moving regularly throughout the day is also essential. Drinking plenty of water can be doubly helpful; it keeps you hydrated and forces you to get up from your desk to take a bathroom break. Many of us are not moving as much as we used to, given the fact that we’re no longer commuting to and from the office, so it’s important to set aside time in the day for some dedicated exercise. In our new series of short videos below, Senior Physiotherapist Alex Diamond demonstrates some great exercises to strengthen your lower back and increase mobility, which is super important if you’re sitting at your desk for long periods.
Obviously the key message of Backcare Awareness Week is to take good care of your back, so why not treat yourself to a Sports Massage? Regular massages are a great way to prevent injury as they not only relieve stress and tension, they also help keep the soft tissue flexible. Soft tissue includes muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, nerves, fibrous tissues, fat, blood vessels, and synovial membranes, so keeping this complex network flexible and increasing blood flow also helps with joint mobility.
Call us on 0203 893 5100 or book an appointment online.
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