o Spread your feet apart to give yourself a wide base of support.
o Stand as close as possible to the object being lifted.
o Bend at the knees, not at the waist. As you move up and down, tighten
stomach muscles and tuck buttocks in so that the pelvis is rolled under and
the spine remains in a natural "S' curve. (Even when not lifting an object,
always try to use this posture when stooping down.)
o Hold objects close to the body to reduce the load on the back.
o Lift using the leg muscles, not those in the back.
o Stand up without bending forward from the waist.
o Never twist from the waist while bending or lifting any heavy object. If you
need to move an object to one side, point your toes in that direction and
pivot toward it.
o If an object can be moved without lifting, push it, don't pull. If you have to
choose between pushing and pulling an object (lawn mover for example),
choose pushing. Pushing an object allows you to use your leg muscles to
move the object. Of course, if you have knee problems, keep in mind that
pushing a heavy object may strain the knees.
o If the object is too heavy for you, you should not be lifting it. Though lifting
with the legs prevents injury to the back, you may strain your knees joints
when lifting an object too heavy for you. If an object is too heavy or
awkward, get help.Sit on properly designed chairsWe do not realize it, but sitting puts the most pressure on the back (see the chapter on
“Mechanical causes of back pain”). Sitting, as you now know, shortens and tightens the
hamstrings and iliopsoas muscles and overworks the erector spinae group of muscles.
The result is that when you get up from your chair, you end up with rounded shoulders,
a hunched back and backache. However, we cannot avoid sitting for the major portion of
our lives unless we are manual workers or farmers. Since a third to half of our lives is to
be spent sitting on chairs, why not make the chairs more “BACK FRIENDLY?”