Companies Starting A Stretching Program To Protect Worker Health
Both amateur and professional athletes understand the importance of stretching before participating in their individual sport and many companies are starting a stretching program to keep their employees safe from soft tissue injuries on the job. While many employees understand that by taking less than five minutes to get their muscles ready for the next eight hours of work, others have trouble getting into the routine.
The difficult part of starting a stretching program is to have the proper stretches that will benefit everyone, regardless of the job they perform. Just as athletes have specialized stretches to meet the demands of their sport, workers will need different movements to help with their job functions. Persons who lift and move heavy objects during their shift may require different muscles to be used than others that push a broom or mop, for instance. However, when starting a stretching program there are some common exercises that can help everyone, regardless of the activity.
One of the most common work place injuries is cause by people trying to lift and heavy object by either using their back instead of their legs and twisting during the movement. This puts a lot of unnecessary strain on lower back muscles. When starting a stretching program consider having the workers squat while bending at the knees and, keeping their back straight, and holding arms parallel to the ground, raise back up to a standing position.
Twisting Helps Ready Back For Unusual Movement
Another common exercise used by companies starting a stretching program is to have the workers stand straight up with the feet shoulder-width apart. Have the place their hands on their hips and rotate to the left and return to the straight position and then rotate to the right, again returning to the straight position. This movement acclimates their body to the turning motions they will be subjected to throughout the shift.
In most companies starting a stretching program they put one person in charge of leading the stretches at the beginning of each shift to help maintain continuity and consistency in stretching before beginning the shift. Equally important is for managers and supervisors to understand the importance of the time spent when the company is starting a stretching program.
A with all exercises, bouncing while moving up and down or even twisting should not be part of the movements. The person selected as a leader when starting a stretching program should be allowed time to understand the movements that will benefit most workers and possibly devise some stretches to help a group more prone to injury.
