Tag: ergonomics winnipeg

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Seasonal Back Pain during Golf? Physiotherapy Winnipeg yourPhysio.com

Again? that seasonal back pain is back…and consecutive golf games are impossible, not to mention your regular league match at any of the golf courses in Winnipeg. One likely culprit; your hip flexors! Yeah, those muscles that lift your knee towards your chest are connected to your back, specifically your lower lumbar spine and pelvis.

During the downswing, the obliques and hip flexors are highly activated, creating a crunch-like position as your hips extend and your pelvis tilts (your belt buckle stays level, pointing forwards) while your chest remains over the ball.

The hip flexors are an important part of your core, working to maintain posture, generate power, stabilize the body, and to decelerate the lower body for efficient energy transfer coming into impact.

Maintaining the quality and function of your hip flexors is very important for maintaining posture through the downswing and impact, especially with the longer clubs, where the greater length of the club’s shaft increases the forces that must be absorbed by the body.

Your hip flexors attach from your spine to your legs.  When they are weak, they are not able to withstand the high forces of the longer clubs and are unable to hold your spine angle.  This results in early extension (loss of spine angle) as the hip flexors lengthen under high loads, resulting in a loss of spinal posture before impact.

 

The Foam Roller Hip Flexor Exercise is a great self-massage exercise that will give your hip flexor muscles (in the front of your hips) a deep and effective sports massage, thus improving the health and quality of your muscle tissue and helping you to perform better.  It will also alleviate soreness and make your muscles feel better.

The foam roller is available at most yoga studios or medical supply stores in Winnipeg; you may even get it covered by insurance! The movement over the roller overloads the muscle tissues through compression, causing your nerves to relax, signalling muscle spasms to shut off, pumping blood and and getting your lymphatic system flowing, to help muscle recovery and regeneration.  You’ll work out those knots (muscle adhesions) in your muscles caused either by inactivity, by the repetitive strain of the golf swing, or by walking a tough golf course.  This will enable you to stretch the muscles back out to their original length, making them more pliable and functional.

Be careful! if the back pain is acute, do not attempt this exercise without first talking to yourPhysio; exercises can be modified and tailored to your injury, and reduce your pain.

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Consider your back, shoulders, hips when buying your next mattress Winnipeg…some tips from yourPhysio

Many people complain of back pain soon after they get out of the bed. Whether it be a combination of tight muscles, stiff joints or general aches, this is a common complaint at any age in Winnipeg.
Although, many fail to sense the link between the back pain and the bedding that they use, research has shown the influence the bedding can have on causing as well as relieving the stress from a persons back. When we go in search for bedding, we can see lot of varieties which are made in many different ways. Adding to this variety is our personal preference. The mattress should also match the framework of the bed. With all these considerations, the value we give to our health is probably low down in the list or not in the list at all.
The link between the bedding and back pain is associated with the malalignment of our body structures away from its natural alignment. When the spine is kept straight, which is the optimal shape to minimize stress towards the lower back, we can see that the ear, shoulder tip and the hip joint are in a straight line. Even when a person sleeps, this would be the optimal positioning for better stress distribution. In overly soft mattresses as well as in old mattresses, we can see certain body parts sinking more into the mattress than other parts of the body. This will upset the alignment and would either direct more stress towards the back or would not facilitate already stressed back muscles as well as the spine. Therefore, in order to avoid such back pains linked to your bedding, you can do the following:
1. If appropriate, the old rule was to place a piece of plywood to make the mattress more firm
2. Do shopping and choose a mattress which is soft as well as firm; many of the new ‘pillow-tops does this for you
3. Can sleep on the floor or on a firm surface with a soft covering to relieve pressure to the bony points.
4. Make use of a water or air filled mattress which could sooth the existing pain as well as relieve the stress in the whole body.
5. Do gentle exercises or stretching before getting out of the bed. Contact yourPhysio for appropriate exercise plans
6. Do not place extra pillows under your head, some may used behind the back, between or under your legs.
7. Position your bed at a adequate level to ease the work related to getting out of the bed.
When considering the link between bedding and the back pain, simple measures would go a long way in relieving this chronic problem. Therefore, the money that you spend for a perfect mattress would definitely be worthwhile when considering the suffering, the loss of productivity as well as the time you spend on your bed.

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Even science can provide ‘stats’ on sitting in Winnipeg to prevent neck and back pain, especially those Downtown, Physiotherapy Winnipeg can educate you

No one will stand all day when they have the opportunity to sit. This is because the body works harder when standing than when sitting. However, when we at yourPhysio.com in Winnipeg review work production studies indicate that workers are more efficient when they stand to work. So how do you decide between the two? Consider these general guidelines Winnipeg!

When Standing is preferred:

the task cannot be performed with arms kept comfortably by your sides.

assembling, testing, or repairing larger products (i.e., greater than 6 inches high)

the work area is too large to be comfortably reached when seated. Stand when you must reach more than 15” past the front edge of the workstation. The maximum reach envelope when standing is significantly larger than the corresponding reach envelope when sitting for both men and women (Sengupta & Das, 2000).

you work in more than one workspace to perform job duties and must move around frequently.
the work task lasts less than 5 minutes.

dealing with heavy objects weighting more than 10 pounds. In general, more strength can be exerted while standing (Mital & Faard, 1990) Stand when you need to maximize grip forces (Catovic, Catovic, Kraljevic & Muftic, 1991) or complete static or dynamic lifts (Yates, & Karwowksi, 1992).the work surface does not allow the worker to comfortably position legs under the surface because of an obstruction (i.e. working on a conveyor or a progressive assembly line, working in a kitchen, using a workstation with a drawer located underneath the work surface or a wide front beam, working at a retail counter, or using specialized equipment)

tasks require frequent application of downward pressures (loading bags, inserting screws)

Jobs that are most appropriately done standing include construction workers, highway flaggers, medical personnel, painters, electricians, plumbers, loggers, firefighters, plant inspectors, and maintenance personnel.

When Sitting is preferred:

Better when visually intensive or precise work is required, the activity is of a repetitive nature; longer tasks are completed (greater than 5 minutes), and when everything can be placed within easy reach. Sitting is not appropriate when heavy objects must be handled or long reaches are required.

However, prolonged sitting has been associated with a high incidence of back complaints (Mandal, 1981), increased spinal muscular activity and intradiscal pressure (Grandjean and Hunting, 1977; Lindh, 1989). Other problems reported include discomfort in the lower extremities (Westgaard and Winkel, 1996) and increased muscle loading of the neck and shoulder muscles when sitting with the forearms unsupported as compared to standing with the forearms unsupported (Aaras et al., 1997; Lannersten and Harms-Ringdahl, 1990).

To summarize the literature, neither static standing nor sitting is recommended. Take note of ‘static’ versus ‘dynamic’ Winnipeg, learn to balance each through your day.

Each position has its advantages and disadvantages. Research indicates that constrained sitting or constrained standing are risk factors and that alternating work postures may be preferable. Alternation between two postures allows for increased rest intervals of specific body parts, and reduced potential for risk factors commonly associated with MSD development.

Ideally, provide workers with a workstation and job tasks that allow frequent changes of working posture, including sitting, standing, and walking. If either sitting or standing is feasible but only one possible, sitting in a properly designed chair is preferable.

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Core training not just for your abs, improve your sitting posture, prevent back pain by Physiotherapy Winnipeg

We’ve all heard physios, chiros, docs and fitness experts claim that core training is important for overall fitness and health. Health clubs offer core training exercise groups and physiotherapists recommend it for those recovering from spinal injury. Your core is the collection of muscles that stabilize the spine, this includes the hips, pelvis, abdominals, lower back, mid-back, and neck regions of the body. These muscles are extremely important in all sports, so why do so many ‘office athletes’ that basically sit for a living overlook core training?

The reason most people skimp on this vital part of their workout is because the benefits are simply overlooked.

Benefits of core training:

It’s important to note that performing a few crunches is not proper core training. As a matter of fact, I recommend that these be avoided for much of a lower back stabilization program. We simply just do not need any more ‘flexion’ in our daily routine; you sit most of your day!

Since your core involves many different muscles groups, a variety of exercises are needed to ensure you work them all; some exercises to explore include, but are not limited to, lunges, bridges, planks, and crunches. Every patient learns how to properly stretch their hip flexors, the ‘culprit’ muscle that usually guards when the ligaments are sprained in the lower back.

Pilates and Yoga classes are also excellent for strengthening your core muscles while also improving balance and posture. Check out Pilates Manitoba as they are offering 50% off their introductory classes for first-time participants.
When your core is strong, your whole body works better. Core training isn’t just for athletes, it’s for anyone who would like to have their body working at its greatest potential. For anyone just starting an exercise program, be sure to talk to yourPhysio first.