According to the International Labour Organization, there are approximately 340 million cases of occupational related injuries every year. It is estimated that 84% of all non-fatal injuries such as: slips, trips, falls, overexertion, and poor bodily reactions, resulted in days lost at work.
What are the most common causes of injuries in the workplace?
Overexertion is the number one cause of occupational injuries causing missed work days. Those small, mundane non-impactful or repetitive stress movements that most people do not think about are the most likely cause for occupational injuries. These injuries can be hard to detect because these movements are done every single time you are working. When you spend 40+ hours a week in one spot, it is common for you to eventually feel pain.
- Non-impact injuries (straining and excessive physical effort or force for a task)
- Repetitive motion:(Repetitive microtasks that produce stress or strain on some part of the body due to the repetitive nature of the task)
- Lifting
- Pushing
- Turning
- Holding
- Bending
- Driving
- Typing
- Sitting
- Carrying
- Throwing
How can we help preventing common injuries in the workplace?
When you take care of your body, your body will be able to better adapt to different kinds of stressors. Being in the workplace, your body is often going through the same motions day in and day out. From sitting at a desk all day, lifting heavy objects, or even a simple thing like typing. We help you assess where these repetitive motions can put you most at risk to develop those aches and pains.
Getting your body checked regularly for misalignments can decrease stress as well as prevent the accumulation of stress on your muscles, joints, and bones before it even occurs. This is especially important for people who are working for long periods of time doing repetitive motions such as sitting, lifting, and typing. Chiropractic care is recommended for a variety of occupations and isn’t just limited to people in hard labor occupations. It is especially important for people to spend a majority of time at a desk such as secretaries, computer engineers, teachers because of the amount of time spent sitting down.
Avoiding Injuries in the workplace:
Moving around seems like such an intuitive thing since you have been constantly moving around since the moment you were born. However most people don’t realize that they are improperly utilizing their bodies. Sometimes the easiest way to prevent injuries is by giving attention to the way you move. The number one way to avoid injuries at the workplace is by practicing proper biomechanics (lifting, squatting, twisting etc.).
We work with you to:
- assess common actions/movements that aggravate the injury
- Make recommendations for micro improvements to the work environment
- Prevent injuries by improving the way you move (biomechanics)
- Relieve pain from work related injuries