Minster Chiropractic Center Shares Tips for Lifting Safely to Prevent Back Pain

Have you heard how lifting can be hard on a low back? If you are a Minster chiropractic patient with low back pain, you have! You have likely even experienced it personally. Minster Chiropractic Center explains proper lifting techniques to our back pain patients in the beginning of treatment. It’s important to keep the spine protected while it heals! New studies report that back supports and even hand support techniques while lifting can help.

MECHANICAL LOADING DURING LIFTING

Mechanical loading is a key risk factor for low back pain. The loading may be due to lifting a heavy or light object that prompts Minster back pain. Much of how the pain comes on is due to how the back muscles act during the lift. Newly designed “exoskeletons” are being tested. They go beyond a back brace but show some promise in reducing lumbar flexion and decreasing the compressive force on the back by 13-21% while bending. Peak compressive force during lifting was reduced by 14%. The researchers are hopeful that such devices could reduce the risk of compression-related tissue failure during lifting. (1) For now, Minster Chiropractic Center focuses on what is accessible today to help our Minster back pain patients control their back pain once the pain is lessened by controlling their spine-related movements.

CHIROPRACTIC LIFTING TIPS

It would seem that there would be a big difference in spine action between picking up a pencil and lifting a crate, but there isn’t much difference when discussing how the low back responds while lifting. Interesting! Researchers wanted to see if the common way most people pick things up off the floor – with a hand on a thigh for support – made a difference. They thought that it would lead to reduced load on the back. The volunteers lifted two kinds of things - a pencil and a crate - off the floor with researchers logging every move and muscle response. Retrieving the pencil with a hand on a thigh for support while bending over decreased the average peak total stresses by 17 to 25% (depending on the lifting method). Hand support while lifting the crate dropped the peak total stresses by 13-19% for one-handed lifting and 14-26% for two-handed lifting. (2) Hand support during lifting may help the low back. Minster Chiropractic Center has some other approaches to limit spinal stress during lifting to control Minster back pain and its reappearance: support belts to exercise to spinal manipulation to back school. It is a comprehensive treatment plan you will want to embrace!

CONTACT Minster Chiropractic Center

Listen to the PODCAST with Dr. Matthew Alexander on the Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes the effective, gentle treatment with the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for his patient with spinal stenosis and low back pain.                                       

Schedule your next Minster chiropractic appointment with Minster Chiropractic Center. Lifting can put stress on the the low back. Chiropractic care eases the stress on the lumbar spine for back pain relief.  Contact us today!