August is Tradies National Health Month, in which we raise awareness and create tools to allow tradies to manage their health and well-being. This year, without exception, we would like to prioritise tradies’ health. What injuries are tradies more susceptible to? How can we prevent these injuries?
Tradies are susceptible to serious injuries, primarily resulting from muscular stress and falls. There are three common injuries as follows:
- Back pain – back pain is the most prevalent injury for tradies as they perform repetitive heavy lifting and are prone to sustained awkward posture. Back pain could arise from joint stiffness and irritation, muscle spasm, and sometimes irritation of the nerves and disc problems if there is a serious injury. Back pain needs to be addressed quickly by healthcare professionals so that treatment could commence timely to avoid delayed recovery.
- Tennis elbow – tennis elbow is a condition where there are degenerative changes in the tendon of the wrist extensor, a group of muscles that is located in the forearm which helps lifting the wrist. It commonly affects the dominant arm, particularly when performing repetitive activity. Tradies with a tennis elbow would complain about pain in the side of the elbow, weakness in their affected arm and reduced grip strength. It could take weeks to months of treatment to control symptoms and regain strength, depending on the severity.
- Knee pain – knee pain could arise from repetitive bending, excessive loading and falls. There are multiple structures in the knee that could be affected, including the joint, knee cap, muscle tendons, fat pad and ligaments. Knee pain requires timely physiotherapy assessment and intervention to prevent symptoms to worsen and enable safe return to work.
Tradies are susceptible to these injuries (the ones that we haven’t mentioned) because they have to perform a lot of lifting, pushing, pulling and manipulating, which we call manual handling. Without proper techniques, the risks for injuries are significantly higher. Here are some tips for proper manual handling:
- Identify hazardous manual tasks. Avoid tasks that might put you to risk.
- Seek help when needed. Don’t push through your capacity.
- Before you lift, please your feet shoulder width apart.
- As you are getting into the position, slightly bend on your back, hips and knees is better than fully bending the back (stooping) or fully bending the hips and knees (deep squatting).
While you’re lifting, avoid twisting the back. Keep the load close to yourself.
Title: Tradies National Health Month Health ‘Snapshot’
Source: Australian Physiotherapy Association
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