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 – From ankle sprains at Christmas parties to back strains, festive decorations, and couch‑time aches
Our physios can help and we touch on a few specific Christmas kitchen injuries.
A common back injury comes from festive kitchen tasks that strain muscles and jar the spine. 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.