Refresher Tips on Protecting Your Back While Lifting Heavy Items

For those with chronic back pain, certain activities like lifting heavy items can really set you back. If you can avoid lifting heavy things, then by all means, don’t do it. But if you have to do so occasionally, here are some tips for protecting your back.

Use Your Legs

Your thighs have some big muscles that can prove useful if you remember to use them. For example, if you need to push something heavy, lying on your back and using your legs is easier on the back than bending over and pushing with your arms.

Also, for lifting up, instead of bending over and using your lower back, try bending your knees, and keeping your arms straight. This will use your leg muscles more than your back muscles.

Whether you are lifting, pushing or pulling, the riskiest thing for your lower back is doing that task at an angle. So, whatever you do, face your task directly in front of you.

Strengthen Your Core

One of the best ways to strengthen your back, but also to take pressure off your back is to strengthen your core muscles. There is no shortage of individual exercises that you can do at home for your core, but an easy solution is to go swimming.

Swimming will strengthen your core with any stroke you do, and it’s a great individual exercise. But if swimming is not your thing, then you can always come and see your chiropractor who is an expert on back pain and ways to relieve it. A chiropractor can prescribe specific exercises just for you.

Additional Resources

Back Health Tips and Prevention

• Back Safe Gardening Tips
• What to Know About Backpacks and Back Pain
• Golfing Tips to Keep Your Back Healthy
• You Can Prevent Lower Back Pain

Benefit Chiropractic & Wellness offers chiropractic health care, acupuncture, and massage therapy in order to enable patients to live a healthy and happy lifestyle that is both pain and symptom free.

If you have any questions about this article or would like to make an appointment with one of the medical professionals at Benefit Chiropractic & Wellness, please call (604) 534-7451 or email info@benefitchiropractic.ca