Spine & Sports Rehab 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 Baton Rouge chiropractic patient with low back pain, you have! You’ve likely even experienced it directly. Spine & Sports Rehab Center describes proper lifting techniques to our back pain patients in the beginning of treatment. It is essential to keep the spine protected while it heals! New studies report that back supports and even hand support techniques during lifting can help.

MECHANICAL LOADING DURING LIFTING

Mechanical loading is a major risk factor for low back pain. The loading may be from a heavy or light object that triggers Baton Rouge 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 demonstrate some promise in reducing lumbar flexion and lowering the compressive force on the back by 13-21% while bending. Peak compressive force during lifting was decreased by 14%. The researchers are optimistic that such devices could lower the risk of compression-related tissue failure while lifting. (1) For now, Spine & Sports Rehab Center focuses on what’s available widely today to help our Baton Rouge back pain patients control their back pain once the pain is diminished by controlling their spine-related movements.

CHIROPRACTIC LIFTING TIPS

It would seem that there would be a huge difference in spine action between picking up a pencil and lifting a crate, but there is not much difference when discussing how the low back responds during lifting. Crazy! 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 proposed that it would lead to decreased load on the back. The volunteers lifted two kinds of things - a pencil and a crate - off the floor with researchers recording 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 reduced the peak total stresses by 13-19% for one-handed lifting and 14-26% for two-handed lifting. (2) Hand support during lifting may protect the low back. Spine & Sports Rehab Center has some other ways to limit lifting stresses on the spine to control Baton Rouge 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 Spine & Sports Rehab 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.                                       

Make your next Baton Rouge chiropractic appointment with Spine & Sports Rehab Center. Lifting can put stress on the the lumbar spine. Chiropractic care eases the stress on the lumbar spine for back pain relief.  Call us today!