Exercise
Work athlete, marathon workers
Work athlete is a term I often use to alert patients to realize the importance of postural, mobility, stretching and strengthening exercises to enhance their ability to perform their work, sports and other daily activities and to minimize injuries. Whatever sport an athlete does, there is always certain injury risk to certain body parts. Similarly, whatever types of work or daily activities we do, there are always risks of injuring certain parts of the body.
A patient of mine in New Zealand worked as a milk-man suffered from a calf muscle strain wondering how it could have happened to a young and fit man like himself. I asked him to tell me the different between his job and a professional marathon runner. Yes, he had to run farther, sometimes faster, on varies and sometimes rough and uneven surface, really early in the very cold mornings, long hours and daily! He certainly had no professional physical training for his job. He also liked hiking and playing football in his spare-times. He kept overusing his legs without proper 'maintenance' and 'repair' . He did not understand and see the need of warm-up and stretches. He was therefore more likely to suffer from any lower limb injury than a professional marathon runner. The same principle may apply to all other daily activities: marathon weight-lifterwho carries a baby all day, marathon sitterwho sits at work all day, marathon computer operator who works in front of the computer all day. A mouse is not heavy to push but the repetitive strain could be severe if we have to use it 10 hours 6 days a week for years. I am seeing more and more young patients even in their 20s suffering from chronic (long-standing) neck and back problems solely due to prolong sitting especially in bad postures. Early degeneration and alteration of the normal spinal alignment such as forward head posture, exaggeration of thoracic kyphosis (upper back slouching) and loss of lumbar lordosis (low back S-curve) is very common. The very basic spinal alignment of chin in (double chin), chest up, stomach in and buttock out provides us the best possible trunk stability for our limbs to function. Postural advice/exercise should therefore be given to all patients. The attached exercises are only few of the many simply routine mobility and stretching exercises to facilitate better spinal posture.
Luck LI
Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist
A patient of mine in New Zealand worked as a milk-man suffered from a calf muscle strain wondering how it could have happened to a young and fit man like himself. I asked him to tell me the different between his job and a professional marathon runner. Yes, he had to run farther, sometimes faster, on varies and sometimes rough and uneven surface, really early in the very cold mornings, long hours and daily! He certainly had no professional physical training for his job. He also liked hiking and playing football in his spare-times. He kept overusing his legs without proper 'maintenance' and 'repair' . He did not understand and see the need of warm-up and stretches. He was therefore more likely to suffer from any lower limb injury than a professional marathon runner. The same principle may apply to all other daily activities: marathon weight-lifterwho carries a baby all day, marathon sitterwho sits at work all day, marathon computer operator who works in front of the computer all day. A mouse is not heavy to push but the repetitive strain could be severe if we have to use it 10 hours 6 days a week for years. I am seeing more and more young patients even in their 20s suffering from chronic (long-standing) neck and back problems solely due to prolong sitting especially in bad postures. Early degeneration and alteration of the normal spinal alignment such as forward head posture, exaggeration of thoracic kyphosis (upper back slouching) and loss of lumbar lordosis (low back S-curve) is very common. The very basic spinal alignment of chin in (double chin), chest up, stomach in and buttock out provides us the best possible trunk stability for our limbs to function. Postural advice/exercise should therefore be given to all patients. The attached exercises are only few of the many simply routine mobility and stretching exercises to facilitate better spinal posture.
Luck LI
Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist