by Marta Borkova, PT, DPT

When is the last time that you sat sideways at the computer, or in your car? You probably wouldn’t even think of it, and those examples might seem silly, but how about the last time you sat sideways at a meal, or sat on the armrest of a couch while you put on your shoes, or twisted awkwardly to reach something in the back seat of your car?

Every day we go through thousands of movements that we don’t even think about. Some of them more, some of them less ideal for our bodies. And, like a car that is out of alignment, the more that we perform habitual movements in a less-than-ideal fashion, the faster our various body parts may wear out.

The workplace is no different, but the stakes for an industrial athlete are often higher and if we set ourselves up in awkward positions, or move in less-than-ideal ways, we risk injury. Sometimes we are tired or distracted, other times we don’t have much choice because of the task. What we CAN choose is to set ourselves up as close to the “ideal” as possible, in any situation. Here are the main points to remember:

Square Up To Your Task

Essentially, we need to square up to our task: shoulders, hips, feet facing in the same direction, whether it’s in a relaxed stance, a power/squat stance, or a split lunge stance. If your shoulders, hips, and toes face in the same direction, you know that you are good to go and have the lowest injury risk.

Pivot, Don’t Twist

Sometimes, though, we are doing a task that requires repetitive transitioning back and forth between two areas, or maybe between our task and our tools. In that case, we want to apply the same Align principle. As we turn, we want to pick up the leading foot and make sure our leading foot/hip/shoulder move as a unit, rather than keeping our foot planted and twisting your knee and low back. This is especially important if you are holding something heavy: our bodies were not designed for repetitive compression and rotation, and our knees and backs suffer the consequences of such motions.

Push It!

This also pertains to pushing vs pulling. It’s always to your advantage to push rather than pull, because you can square up to your work, keep things in the power zone, and avoid any recoil force or rotation when at arm’s length.

Marta Borkova, PT, DPT || Marta is a Physical Therapist in Spokane, WA. In and out of the clinic she loves exploring the themes of holistic health and wellness, and sharing what she’s learned. When she’s not onsite providing injury prevention services, she spends most of her time trying to keep up with her two little boys!.

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Be sure to check out our other blogs for further injury prevention education and tips for the industrial athlete from Work Right NW!