Are you busy leading up to Christmas? The unfortunate fact is developing some form of musculoskeletal injury over the holiday season is very common. Make time for yourself & visit our physios to be pain free this holiday season.
The Best Gift For You – Rolling an ankle in high heels at your work Christmas party, straining your back whilst preparing a surprise for your kids, hanging up 50,000 light decorations outside the house and then there is always the aches and pains from spending time on the couch!
Our physios can help and we touch on a few specific Christmas kitchen injuries.
First up we have the highly typical back injury, which is seen with hours upon hours of standing in the kitchen chopping fruit and veggies, peeling potatoes or taking the turkey in and out of the oven. Doing tasks like these can cause a form of jarring effect on the joints in the spine and straining of your muscles. The extent of how much work you do in these positions will determine your severity. It is important to remember some simple back instructions:
- When taking the turkey out of the oven, bend your knees and keep the pan close to your body to avoid significant strain on your back
- To avoid pain while standing at the bench preparing food, you can put one foot forward on a shelf or combine with sitting. This will take the pressure off your back
- Stacking the dishwasher involves lots of leaning forward…so why don’t you make this a 2-person job. Kneel down on one leg and get someone to help pass you the dishwashers. Even better if your partner or a child helps. Take turns and swap over
Next, we have repetitive strain injury (aka RSI). Do you have a big family equalling to a small army? If so, then you’ll probably be standing for hours cutting, chopping, cooking, whisking, whipping and slicing. The wrists have probably already gone through some form of strain and stress after writing countless Christmas. So, a combination of these will contribute to pain, ache and stress in the wrists. Be sure to have plenty of rest between jobs, have a helper or 3 to reduce the load and amount of work needing to be done and change your wrist positions constantly. For example, chop 5 potatoes and peel 5 potatoes in sets.
Have a fantastic Christmas period – if you need any help or have any questions related to your current ache or pain, let us know.