If the medical profession is anything like the manufacturing industry, not enough ergomic lifts are available. "Lift with your legs", lofl.
From reading male and female nurses comments both, back groans seem to resonate constantly. So if EVERYONE suffers, I would imagine the guys suffer more since 'they are better equiped naturally to do overload weight lifting exercises'. i.e. instead of getting 4 female nurses, one male back per few months (and then fire for some boneheaded HR excuse) may seem more economically feasible for the Bookkeeper.
Work physiology speaking, lifting 'live' loads that can move in an infinite span of directions and forces would be perhaps the WORST thing to lift per actual weight. Even thos portable lift devices seem like a hazzard to use after a few times: it may get better, but stooping, reaching, and trunk movement of handler and handled required! Add a little repetition and extreme back strain incidents every couple of days, and wallah, you are the patient. Just hope its not as an $11/hr CNA working on RN degree.
This is a serious concern the Female nurses know well how to avoid incidents. I'm a little surprised that there are no engineer work physiologists yet in persuit of RN goal has not yet contributed. If not, I don't mind, as I've measured every effect in milliseconds of any type manufacturing/industry operation including bicycling (very complex).
All operations effect different people differently, and must just know what are critical parameters (by filming operation). Judging by the fact that women live on the average significantly longer than men, we need to start thinking more with our heads and not by what 'Industry' tells us we should think!
Specializes in Med Surg, Ortho, Tele, ICU, Hospice.
Doin fine.
My only advice is train, if you have the time, and don't crap around with bad form.
Having a bad back can be a career ender, at least if you're into bedside nursing. Learn to deadlift. I myself can whip up about 450lb at the gym, but that's stiff weight with nice handles, a warm up and chalk. I've pulled back muscles (thank god that's all it was) picking up 120lb old ladies before - because my form was terrible. There's a reason I don't go to the gym and deadlift burlap sacks full of sand stuck halfway underneath a bed!
I am a nrsg student and a part time nrsg assistant. There are nights where I walk up to 5 miles in one 8 hr shift (I know because I bought a pedometer). I come home at night, and when I sit down for a little while my body tightens up and I walk like an old man for several hours. Sometimes, it's my back. Other times it's my hips, feet, knees... I've also developed some kind of inflammatory condition in my wrists and fingers. After pullng gloves on and off a few dozen times per shift, I sometimes can't straighten out a couple of my fingers without intense pain.
Because of all that, I take care in what I do. I raise the bed when cleaning patients, put heavier pts in trendelenberg position when pulling them up in the bed if they are heavy, etc.
If the medical profession is anything like the manufacturing industry, not enough ergomic lifts are available. "Lift with your legs", lofl.
I've become increasingly annoyed in clinicals and at work (I am a nurse tech) by people who give me initial "deer in front of headlights" look when I ask for help turning a patient or lifting someone out of bed. The general feeling is that because I'm male, I shouldn't need help from a female nurse. As someone who takes extra precautions when handling injured and overweight patients, I am quick to ask for help. It doesn't seem to be an issue when "Sue" asks for assistance, but Big Shawn? NO WAY!
I've become increasingly annoyed in clinicals and at work (I am a nurse tech) by people who give me initial "deer in front of headlights" look when I ask for help turning a patient or lifting someone out of bed. The general feeling is that because I'm male, I shouldn't need help from a female nurse. As someone who takes extra precautions when handling injured and overweight patients, I am quick to ask for help. It doesn't seem to be an issue when "Sue" asks for assistance, but Big Shawn? NO WAY!
Seriously Shawn, I'd inform your supervisor that you feel you are a victim of Sexual Harassment (or any type of discrimination); and you are asked to jeopardize your spinal alignment (or Chiropractic) health, due to being 'forced' to do tasks unassisted. Its not necessarily the weight, but as an engineer, its all in the leverage of a moving and unstable large bulky object. For you to assume the effects of 50 lbs force 4' away from you while maintaining your control of your forces, would multiple that times 5 easily with dynamic (or moving) force effects.
Suggest that you can do better than 50% of your share for an increase in salary (like 30-40%), but you do not want to injure yourself for the rest of your life. I just turned 51 yrs old, 6'-250 lbs, born 10 lbs, curled 200 lbs and ran marathons 25 yrs ago (not simultaneously, lol), and spend quite a lot of time NOW addressing my health to preserve my dwindling resources (with herbs, vitamins, posture, aerobics, and knowledge). All it takes is one slip of a semi-conscious patient to screw 'You' the rest of 'your' life.
I plan to be the most competent nurse possible, and will not tolerate such inactions jeopardizing my patients AND myself simultaneously. Sue could be sued, but it is the organization and their Management (which incidentally has the deeper pockets) which is responsible. Now I'm not for threats or suing your livelihood source frivolously, but after surviving many motorcycle crashes including falling asleep at 90 mph (don't ask), I protect my excellent (as compared to most others) health with a vengeance. Where dumb luck and greater powers may have protected me at your age, I'm going to take all the random chance out of the equation at this point. Your mileage may vary though.
Nursing is a demanding field run by ruthless hospital owners. Don't be a dip for a fellow nurse who does not want to carry their professional load :gtch:
You guys are worried about your back working indoors...like rolling a pt in bed? How about the poor slobs that had to carry that pt's over-sized *ss down three flights of stairs and load them in the ambulance? There's no access to Hoyer Lifts out in the field....
And yes I do agree...good form, exercise and assistance.
You guys are worried about your back working indoors...like rolling a pt in bed? How about the poor slobs that had to carry that pt's over-sized *ss down three flights of stairs and load them in the ambulance? There's no access to Hoyer Lifts out in the field....
And yes I do agree...good form, exercise and assistance.
I agree, that is a long hard travel path, BUT
you have assistance usually for one specified task: material handling.
Hospitals have continuous interruptions and crises, which are good chances for those who duck their responsibilities to so do so easily and frequently. 3 strikes your out hr admin procedures seem like forever getting a slackard fired, when you are breaking your back several times a day in the meantime.
When SAFETY is involved, it should be ONE strike and you are out, PERIOD. I see all the time newbie frail persons posting about being worried about making the cut because of their physical resources. Often this will result in non-assistance or hurting themselves. There should be better and more appropriate staffing with compensatory benefits. The field is wide open, although narrowing, and I'm not going to be a slab of meat thrown by the roadside in a few years while people are ducking in the bathrooms for decades.
In reference to EMT's, the psychological aspect of emergency situations and constant 'rough' neighborhoods in most cities would be their biggest detriment, and why many will never do that job again. But your point is well taken.
Taking the time to raise the bed has helped me a lot so far.
A little yoga doesn't hurt, either, imho.
Actually, I've wondered if any facilities out there would ever allow nurses to wear those vest-like back braces - sort of like what I've seen some Sam's Club employees wear.
Taking the time to raise the bed has helped me a lot so far.
A little yoga doesn't hurt, either, imho.
Actually, I've wondered if any facilities out there would ever allow nurses to wear those vest-like back braces - sort of like what I've seen some Sam's Club employees wear.
I'm sure they would not mind (or better not mind). But like weight-lifting or on-the-job, be sure you loosen the belt when not using. Otherwise you will depend on it and your small muscles it supports will go weak (like a Smokie-radar and your brain, ha-ha).
Like many posters have said, good posture will keep the Chiropractor away. But heavy high rep weight lifting, like a hospital CNA may experience, may require a weight belt frequently. Those cloth girdles Sam's uses may not be the best but are surely the cheapest and may have resulted from a law suit too. I like the Valeo belt bought about 20 years ago. I gave it to a lady who loaded vending machines 10 years ago, and couldn't get it back. Oh well, she needed it more than I :wink2:
my back is good, though i work out a lot ( go go p90x, currently)
a lot of the females call and call for the males at my job, good form is a must, but i think upon hiring individuals they should pay particualr attention to the physical requirments of the job. in nursing school i had a 76 year old french female instructer and she had no problem moving my 6 foot 200lb self from bed to bed with proper form... when she demonstrated she seriously wowed all of us and told looked at the smallest girl in our class and told her being female and small is no excuss with a smile =)
Wrists, shoulders, neck, knees, back, ankles and elbows take turns hurting whenever they feel like it. A good day is when I wake up and only 1 of them hurts a little bit. Blame it on the sports, powerlifting, or all the crazy Marine Corps stuff I've done..... Its all pretty much shot. And I'm only 27, I still lift weights about 4-5 days/ week. Doesn't really phase me anymore since I am just used to it, and I have a naturally high tolerance for pain. Oh well, beats being loaded up on Vicodin to get thru the day.
Back belts are not a good solution. As early as 1994 CDC/NIOSH speculated back belts increased the risk of injury. The December 6, 2000 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded the same. Back belts are seen in hospitals and clinics in about one department. The one that developed them in the first place for post injury rehab.
"Medical professionals and ergonomists agree that you should wear a supportive belt only for the first few days or weeks after a severe back injury while the area is healing. If you have never had a back injury, it is best to avoid a back belt entirely." Reference
callmekipling
104 Posts
Doin fine.
My only advice is train, if you have the time, and don't crap around with bad form.
Having a bad back can be a career ender, at least if you're into bedside nursing. Learn to deadlift. I myself can whip up about 450lb at the gym, but that's stiff weight with nice handles, a warm up and chalk. I've pulled back muscles (thank god that's all it was) picking up 120lb old ladies before - because my form was terrible. There's a reason I don't go to the gym and deadlift burlap sacks full of sand stuck halfway underneath a bed!