Archive for the ‘Ergonomics’ Category

Are Your Shoes Hurting Your Back?

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

Have you ever been shopping or have been on your feet for a considerable amount of time and begin to experience back pain as a result of it? Many people consider being on their feet to be the culprit but the fact of the matter is, it might actually be their shoes that are causing their back pain. If this is the case with you, you have two different options to be able to overcome the back pain that you are experiencing as a result of your shoes.

The first thing that you can do and this is really the option that most people have to choose from is to make sure that you are wearing the proper footwear. If your shoes are not supporting your feet properly, you will experience back pain as a result. This is especially the case if you have to stand on a hard floor on a regular basis. You may notice that moving around a little bit will help to ease up some of the pain that you are experiencing, this is very common whenever you are having a problem with your shoes.

Another thing that you can do, and although this seems rather simplistic, you can start to move around a little bit or get off of your feet on occasion. For some people, this will be enough to solve the problem but what if you have to stand on your feet all day at work? If this is the case, you need to either have a good pair of shoes that will support your feet or you will have to have something underneath your feet that will cushion some of the blow. There are some pads that are made specifically for this purpose in order to keep us from standing on a hard surface all day long.

Whenever you are choosing shoes because you are having back problems you need to make sure that if it is a proper one. It is not really enough for you to simply get a pair of shoes that is supposed to give you more support. If the shoes don’t fit properly, the support is going to be compromised in some way or another. It is also important for you to get shoes that breathe easily so that your feet are not sweating inside of your shoes, potentially causing other problems.

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Does Sitting All Day Hurt Your Back?

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

Some people experience back pain because they stand on their feet all day long but what if you have to sit down for your job, such as if you work on the computer? This can actually be damaging to your back as well for a number of different reasons. As a matter of fact, this can hurt your back in a number of different areas, depending on what it is that you do for a living.

Your upper back can hurt if you work on the computer, especially if you tend to lean forward whenever you’re working. Many of us also shrug our shoulders as we are working naturally and this can cause some severe upper back pain as well. If this is your problem, you should learn how to relax your shoulders and to take the time to stretch slightly every five minutes or so. You should also do some exercises in your desk chair, including additional stretching exercises that will help to keep your neck limber.

Your lower back may also hurt whenever you sit all day long, simply because your posture may not be the greatest in your chair. Very few of us that work for a company have an ergonomic chair that is going to support us properly. In order for us to make sure that our back is in alignment we are going to need to adjust it ourselves. Focus on making sure that you are sitting up straight and not slouching in your seat, putting your spine into an unnatural alignment.

There are several different things that you can do which may also help if you have this problem. One thing that you can do, especially if you tend to work by yourself is to sit on a Pilates ball for several hours out of the day. Of course, you’re going to have to work up to this point but it is a great way for you to strengthen your core muscles and to overcome many of the back injuries that we can have from sitting at a desk chair.

Something else that you might want to try is getting up every hour, on the hour and doing some body weight exercises. There’s no need to do a lot, just get up and move so that you switch your position and whenever you sit down, you will be more conscious of the position in which you are sitting.

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