Management Has its Own Pain
Take Care of Your Back
When you traded your hammer and heavy equipment for a clip board and PDA, I bet you thought those days of sore backs and strained muscles were over. Come to find out that stress and using your muscles to fight gravity can be pretty hard on your body too.
9 out of 10 adults will experience back pain at some point in their lives, and 5 out of 10 working adults have back pain EVERY year .
The American Academy of Family Physicians
Retrieved March 12, 2007
Whether you are a construction manager, project manager or design engineer, the fact is that leading a less active life than you once did, can create real problems for you and your back, in particular. Your back works a lot like a cantilever bridge, where your spine is the truss and your muscles and tendons are the suspension spans holding things in place. When you sit or stand for long periods, your muscles and tendons are forced to hold your head, neck, arms and shoulders in place far longer than they should. Your “spans” get overworked, tired and weak. And they become susceptible or injury.
That’s not the worst of it, though. Within your body, there is something called “Fascia” – a protective sheath that covers ever cell of your body, every muscle, every tendon, etc. As you age and suffer injuries on the job, the fascia tightens around the injury areas. That’s why you sometimes feel knots or tenderness from an injury you suffered five years ago. And if you don’t do something to stretch and loosen the fascia, that tender spot continues to tighten up and the fascia (along with muscles and tendons) gets overstretched in some areas and shortens in others.
You may begin to hunch over, you may only be able to turn you head 45 degrees (90+ is what the average healthy person can turn) and you may feel general tightness and tenderness in your back and neck. Not too bad you may be thinking. But if you compound that with your age (over 30??) and the stress of managing a large job and crew, you may see your back go out at just the wrong time – like the week construction is supposed to be completed. Or the day your son or daughter graduates.
How to Stop the Worst from Happening
If much of the above sounds all too familiar, the first thing you need to do is to get your back healthy. The second thing you need to do is to incorporate regular exercise and stretching into your daily routine.
Step 1: Visit my office or that of any SI practitioner. The first that we will do is to discuss how you spend your day – standing, sitting, dealing with stress-inducing issues, etc. Then I will design a structural therapy and bodywork schedule for you that will relieve the immediate pain and tenderness in your back, neck, head, etc. Then by means of a multi-session program, I will soften and strengthen the fascia, muscles and tendons in you back. When you have completed your program, you will feel a range of motion and strength you’d forgotten you had. And you will be ready for
Step 2: Exercise, stretching and strength training.
"Diagnosis and Management of Acute Low Back Pain"; American Academy of Family Physicians. Retrieved March 12, 2007. http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000315/1779.html
