Good Posture and the Careers that Work Against It

Due to the physically demanding nature of kitchen work, bad posture is a common issue among professional and famous cooks, or people at home who love that hobby. Consider what they are constantly doing….accessing a workspace that requires they bend at the neck for hours and hours. Some cooks have learned to SIT at the counters where they work, thus decreasing the space between vegetables, meat etc that they have to prepare. Others have raised the counter so that the work space is closer to their hands and equipment.

Compare it to working at your computer…sitting is the only way to work in comfort. Bending over a computer while standing, and doing it for hours, is just not easy to do, unless the height of the work space is raised to accommodate the typist.  

Other careers require prolonged time standing, in addition to repetitive movements that lead to hunching over…again think cutting boards, countertops, but also tool boards and other work spaces. All of this leads to musculoskeletal problems and the resultant poor posture. In fact, doctors often refer to it as “baker’s hump.”

A quick search also listed the following: working for hours at a computer in an office; working as an RN, lifting and moving patients with many different conditions, not to mention many different weights. (And that being a key element stressed in nursing school: how to move a patient with different needs, not only to protect the patient, but also to protect the nurse’s back.)

Other high-risk jobs include drivers, construction workers of all types, and hairdressers who often work in awkward, static positions that can cause musculoskeletal problems.

And finally…being a mother. After giving birth to my first child, I had to learn how to hold, carry and even nurse while moving about. Then when I was blessed with our second child, I was again doing all of these things, but now with a toddler trailing behind me.

Love is family…and you will sacrifice your back, arms etc to care for your children. The result: aches, pains and stiffness that even a good night’s sleep (is there such a thing with small children) will not cure. 

FINAL THOUGHT

Don’t do what I did…ignore the situation until it is affecting your family and your life. Physical therapy was the answer for me, and I found that over time I often needed to go back, have my therapist reassess where I was and to MAKE SURE I continued to do my exercises, change or consider my position when doing gardening, lifting my grandchildren, and doing simple things like carrying the groceries. Even today, I sometimes have to go back, get therapy for a TUNE-UP.

So please do yourself a favor, start NOW to care for your back AND your posture. Walking around with a straight back says more about a youthful YOU, that any clothing, cosmetics or hairstyle could ever do. Thanks for reading, Beth