Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are injuries to your soft tissue or nervous system that occur on the job. These injuries are typically not from isolated incidents but rather from cumulative overuse trauma, like if you are repeating the same motion over and over again. If you are someone who must frequently move or lift items throughout the day, it is important to use the best possible lifting technique to reduce the risk of injury. Here are some important tips to keep in mind to safely perform lifts:
- Test the weight: your body needs to know how heavy the item is to appropriately activate your muscles. Have you ever gone to lift a suitcase, anticipating it to be super heavy, only to find out it is empty and stumble backwards. In this example you worked too hard to perform the lift, but it is a nice example of why testing the weight before lifting it is important.
- Pre-plan your route: pre-planning the route helps you to be efficient in your lift and not exert more energy than is required of you. Make sure the path in front of you is clear and that there are no obstacles in your way that could be hazardous.
- Maintain a wide base of support: if your feet are too close together it will be harder to keep your balance. Try to spread your feet out wide or in a staggered stance (one foot slightly in front of the other) to maintain good balance.
- Keep your back flat and bend your knees to lift the object: many of us tend to bend at our hips, round our back and reach for an object to lift it. However, this position can increase our risk of injury. To pick the item up from the floor, bend your knees to lower your body, keep your back flat and your chest upright and let your legs do most of the work.
- Keep the weight close to your body: as soon as you start to hold an object away from your body it will increase the forces through your back, making the task more difficult. Keeping the weight as close to your body as possible reduces the pressure of the load and keeps your body in a good, safe position
- Break large loads into smaller loads: it can be tempting to get the job done in one lift, but this is not always the best idea. When it is available to you try to perform multiple smaller lifts instead of one large lift to help maintain good form and not overexert yourself or risk injury. If something is very large, then it is a good idea to have two people to perform the lift and work as a team!
- Try to limit bending, twisting, and reaching arms away from your body to place something down: Instead of twisting and reaching use a step strategy, meaning you take small steps to turn your body or small steps forward to place the object down on the desired surface instead of reaching the weight away from your body to put it down
- Push an object rather than pulling an object: if the load is too heavy or awkward to lift, whenever possible, try to push the object instead of pulling it towards you. This strategy will reduce the load through your spine to help prevent injury.
- Avoid repetitive movements: repetitive movements increase the risk of musculoskeletal injury, when possible, take breaks or rotate through different activities to give your muscles a rest
- Teach those around you! Take these tips and use them to help yourself and the people around you. Staying safe and healthy is the goal and practicing these lifting techniques are a great way to reduce your risks while lifting objects.
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- Harari, Y., Bechar, A., & Riemer, R. (2020). Workers’ biomechanical loads and kinematics during multiple-task manual material handling. Applied Ergonomics, 83, 102985.doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2019.102985
- Jacobs K. (2007) Ergonomics for Therapists. 3rd edition, Elselvier – Health Science Division
- Plamondon, A., Larivière, C., Delisle, A., Denis, D., & Gagnon, D. (2012). Relative importance of expertise, lifting height and weight lifted on posture and lumbar external loading during a transfer task in manual material handling. Ergonomics, 55(1), 87–102.doi:10.1080/00140139.2011.634031