Hi Everyone!
Last week we touched on ways to help you move more at work and why you need to. This week, we look further into the importance of moving regularly.
The postural and stabilizing muscles of the body can become painful when held in elongated and end-of-range positions. Muscles are strongest, and work optimally, in mid-range positions. For instance, when a worker continually reaches forward or leans forward to complete a task, the upper or lower back muscles and shoulders are placed in elongated positions for prolonged periods. Muscles are at their weakest and most vulnerable point when they’re working at the stretched out, end-of-range position. They fatigue over time, become painful, and can then fail to do their job of stabilising. This significantly increases a worker’s risk of injury.
Regularly changing positions is critical in reducing your chance of injuring yourself both at work and home, whether it be bending over to weed your garden, or at work slumped in front of the computer. Rotating through different jobs and tasks at work throughout the day is an important and very easy way to regularly change the position of your body. This alters the load and force that you put on your muscles and helps them to work at different lengths and consequently, reducing the risk of injury.
Hope this helps,
Deb
