Pain Free Workplace

I wrote a story about a crossing guard once. I arranged to meet him at his place of work, a street corner near a school. He sprang out of his car. I gingerly hauled myself out of mine, using the door as leverage. The man practically skipped over to greet me. I winced in pain as I straightened up and hobbled toward him.

The crossing guard had just turned 80.

The man had been in World War II.

"That does it," I thought.

Humiliation is a great motivator.

Now, I am not one to share personal information in print. Nor am I one to push healthy habits on defenseless readers. The adults among you know you need to get exercise, and if you're not, you probably don't want some stranger tsk-tsking you about it.

So don't think of this article as some impersonal reprimand. It's written more in the spirit of a gentle reminder that you don't have to live with pain. Because, yes, folks, I got rid of my back pain (mostly). I won't bore you with how, but suffice it to say that sitting at the computer for long stretches is much easier now. Plus, I can attest that your whole outlook turns sunnier when you're not spending your day valiantly ignoring an excruciating spasm that shoots from leg to mid-back.

According to the National Institutes of Health, eight out of 10 people will suffer back pain during their lives. Back pain and back injuries are the number one pain complaints of workers, says Michael Bracko, an occupational physiologist in Calgary, Canada, and a spokesman for the American College of Sports Medicine.

But workers -- factory and office, construction and landscape -- endure other pain, too: in necks, shoulders, wrists and hands, mostly. Then there's the stiffness that settles in after those hours you spend hunched over your desk or the steering wheel.

"It's quite amazing," Bracko says, "how many people go to work literally every single day, and they take it for granted that pain is part of their work and workstation."

I was one. You adapt to pain. You move over to give it room in your life instead of fighting it off and staking out your pain-free territory. It just seems too big a problem to deal with. You have to work, after all. And who has time to go to the doctor? And it will go away eventually, right? Nope.

Pain may not only be, well, a pain, it may also get in the way of your effectiveness as an employee.

If you suffer from constant pain, "when you're trying to focus, you really lose your mental clarity," says Kelli Calabrese, a fitness expert and author of "Feminine, Firm & Fit."

Many people don't work a straight eight-hour day anymore. They work 10 or 12 hours, or hold down two or three jobs and squeeze in sleep when they can. Regular exercise may be next to impossible to fit in.

Consider this number, the physical activity level for some New Jerseyans in 2005, provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: 16 percent were inactive, meaning they got less than 10 minutes a week of moderate or vigorous exercise. That's 1 in 6 people.

Laziness may be a factor, the car culture and escalators and elevators may be factors, but lack of time may certainly be a factor, too.

Exercises accompanying this story are ones the experts recommend you do while at work to prevent or relieve back, shoulder, neck and wrist pain, to increase blood flow through your body and to your spine, and to just take your mind off your job stresses, which is healthy in its own way, too.

These people know you worry about looking silly in front of your co-workers. They know you loath the thought of coming off as weird.

That's why Bracko says it might be a good time to shut the door to your office, if you have one, or do the exercises in a bathroom stall. Or, if you're game, round up people to do the exercises with you. You'll feel a lot less self-conscious when there are 10 of you doing them.

That's why Katherine Cwiklinski, a physical therapist at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, tells a story of a patient who worried about that. But then he explained to his co-workers why he was exercising, and some of them started to do the stretches, too.

"It no longer seems stupid because you're doing something to prevent pain," Cwiklinski says.

Or, you can tell your colleagues, "This is my life. My time is precious and limited. I don't care what people think." That from Calabrese, who just moved to Texas but lived in New Jersey long enough to share in the region's flare for self-assertion.

Reach Andrea Gurwitt at 973-569-7159 or gurwitt@northjersey.com.

Stretches suggested by Katherine Cwiklinski, physical therapist at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center:

In addition to these stretches, Cwiklinski recommends taking rest breaks every 30 minutes. Stand up. Then stand on your toes and descend, 10 times. It gets your blood moving.

NECK STRETCHES: Sit at your desk and look straight ahead. Grab the bottom of the side of your chair with your right hand. Slowly and gently tilt your head to the left, keeping your shoulders relaxed and down. Repeat on the other side: Grab the bottom of the side of your chair with your left hand. Slowly and gently tilt your head to the right.

Repetitions: Three to four times on each side, three times a day.

Reason: They help stretch your neck muscles and keep the blood flowing. They help prevent neck stiffness and pain.

ALTERNATE HAMSTRING STRETCH (not pictured): Sit straight and tall in your chair. Keep the natural arch in your lower back. While maintaining a straight back, slowly straighten your leg so it is parallel to the floor. You should feel a slight stretch in the back of your leg.

Repetitions: Three to four times on each side, three times a day.

Reason: Good for your back.

SHOULDER BLADE EXERCISE: Sit up straight in your chair, with your arms straight in front of you, parallel to the floor. Pull your arms straight back, bending at the elbow. Move your shoulder blades toward each other on your back.

Repetitions: Two sets of 10. Three times a day.

Reason: For your middle back and upper shoulders. When you sit at your desk, you tend to slump your shoulders for long periods of time. This exercise reverses the slump, opens up your chest and promotes good posture.

LEG STRETCH: While sitting, place your right ankle on your left knee. Gently push down on your right knee with your hand. Don't force it. To deepen the stretch, lean forward very slightly, keeping your back straight and maintaining the natural arch in your lower back. You should feel a stretch in your butt and the back of your upper thigh. Then switch legs and repeat.

Repetitions: Three to four times on each side, three times a day.

Reason: It stretches out your lower back. Specifically it stretches out the piriformis muscle, which begins at your sacrum and ends at your upper thigh bone.

Additional stretches suggested by Michael Bracko, occupational physiologist:

STANDING CAT/CAMEL: Stand. Place your hands on your bent knees. Keep your arms straight. Slowly and gently round your spine and look toward the floor (camel). Then arch your back and look up (cat).

Repetitions: 10 times arched, 10 times rounded, every 60 to 90 minutes. But if you can't do that, then every two or two-and-a-half hours.

Reason: It loosens your back and increases blood flow to your spinal discs.

CROSS EXERCISE: Stand. Lift both arms so they are parallel to the floor. Turn your palms up so your thumbs face backwards. Move your arms back as far as you can, and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Hold for two counts.

Repetitions: 10 times. Every 60 to 90 minutes, or two to two-and-a-half hours.

Reason: Desk work and driving tend to make your shoulder and chest muscles tight and short. This exercise stretches them.

HAMSTRING STRETCH: Stand. Place your left foot on an object relatively low to the ground, like the lowest desk drawer, or a chair with no wheels. If it's the desk drawer, open it, and put your foot on the side of the drawer, so the drawer doesn't snap shut. Make sure your right foot is stable. Slightly bend your left knee. Keep your back straight. Do not round your back -- it will pinch your spinal discs.

Lean forward until you feel a slight stretch in the back of your leg. Hold for 10 counts. Then switch legs.

Repetitions: 10 times. Every 60 to 90 minutes, or two to two-and-a-half hours.

Reason: It loosens up your back, and stretches your legs.

WRIST STRETCH: This is a good exercise for receptionists, data entry clerks -- anyone who works at a computer all day -- and truck or taxi drivers.

Remain sitting. Make a loose fist with both hands. Slowly rotate wrists in as big a circle as you can, five times in one direction, five times in the opposite direction.

Repetitions: 10 times. Every 60 to 90 minutes, or two to two-and-a-half hours.

Reason: Loosens your wrists and forearms, which get tight when you hold them still to type or drive.

LATERAL SIDE BENDS: Stand with your arms hanging loosely by your side. Keep your hips still and slowly bend sideways from your torso, to the right, so your right hand moves down your right leg. You should not feel any pain when you do this, so don't over-bend. Or, if you have back pain already, you might not want to do this exercise.

Repetitions: 10 times on both sides. Every 60 to 90 minutes, or two to two-and-a-half hours.

Reason: They are good for your back. They loosen up your back muscles and your spinal discs.

Exercises that increase your heart rate and strengthen arm muscles, suggested by Kelli Calabrese, author of "Feminine, Firm & Fit":

SIT/STAND EXERCISE: Stand, sit, stand, sit. Do this quickly. If you are fit, add a jump or rise on to your toes after you stand.

Repetitions: Six times. Should take between 60 and 90 seconds.

Reason: This exercise increases your heart rate and blood flow.

JOGGING: Jog around your desk quickly but carefully. Then reverse directions. If you feel dizzy, stop. If you don't have a desk, jog in place.

Repetitions: Jog for 30 seconds in each direction.

Reason: To increase heart rate and blood flow.

WALKING LUNGES: Find a hallway. Look straight ahead. Lift up your right leg and set down your foot heel-first in a long stride. Lunge downward to the floor, or as far as you are able. Then do the same with your left leg. Then, do the same exercise but backward. Face the same way as before. Bring right leg back, toes first. Lunge downward to the floor, or as far as you are able. Repeat with left leg.

Repetitions: 10 lunges on each side.

Reason: This exercise strengthens your quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteal muscles (butt) and a bit of your calf muscles, and increases your heart rate.

DESK PRESS: Sit at your desk. Place hands and forearms under the desk, palms up. Press upward against the desk, using the furniture as resistance. Press for 10 seconds then release. Rest for 20 seconds. Repeat. Work up to pushing for 30 seconds.

Be sure to breathe during this exercise. Otherwise it can raise your blood pressure. If you are prone to hypertension, do not do this exercise.

Repetitions: Up to 10 times.

Reason: To increase bicep strength.

CHAIR DIPS: Sit in a chair with no wheels. Place your hands on the armrests. Make sure your elbows are bent. Lift your torso and butt off the chair. Dip down and push up. When you first do this exercise, keep your knees bent, feet on floor. Eventually you can walk your legs out until they are fully extended, and eventually can lift feet off floor, and extend legs.

Repetitions: 10 to 15 times.

Reason: It strengthens your triceps.

CHAIR ROLLS: Sit in a chair with wheels. Lift up your feet. Hold the desk and pull yourself toward the desk, then push yourself away.

Repetitions: 10 to 15 times.

Reason: Pulling strengthens your back and biceps. Pushing strengthens your chest and triceps.

Kelli Calabrese – MS, CSCS, 2004 Personal Trainer of the Year. Kelli is a Clinical Exercise Physiologist and 20 year fitness industry leader. She is the author of Feminine, Firm & Fit – Building A Lean Strong Body in 12 Weeks. She has 23 fitness, nutrition and lifestyle related certifications and is available for personal training, online training, iPod workouts, phone coaching, grocery shopping tours, seminars and media appearances. Kelli’s personal mission is to provide individuals with the tools to make health, fitness and wellness a permanent part of their lives.

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