Adopting certain positions and doing exercise will protect you from backache

Working for long hours in a sitting or standing position or carrying heavy weights can damage the cervical spine, abdominal muscles and joints (shoulders, knees and wrists) and eventually limit your mobility.

Everyday movements

• If you work sitting down, it is a good idea to keep the whole back supported, your feet on the floor or on a footrest, the computer screen high, in a straight line with your eyes, your arms bent at a right angle and supported on the desk.
• If you work standing up, try to walk often (even if it is on the spot) to activate blood flow. Change your weight from leg to leg to distribute the weight and avoid very high heels, which can lead to varicose veins.
• When lifting weight from the floor, get close to the object, bend your knees, use your arms and keep your wrists firm. Use a trolley to move the load when possible.

Exercises for preventing aches and pains

Once you have grasped these concepts, you can start doing exercises to strengthen your muscles, improve your balance and relieve pain at home.

1. Lie face up and hug your knees to your chest with your arms. Rock from side to side. Allowing both knees to drop to the right, cross your arms and turn your head in the opposite direction. Return to the centre and repeat, this time to the left. 
2. On all fours, arch your back up like a cat, as far as you can while you breathe in, and breathe out as you lower your back known again, finishing with your neck stretched up and your tummy button down. Repeat five times.
3. Hold the position and stretch out with your right arm and your left leg. Keep your balance, lower your limbs and stretch again. Repeat ten times and then change side.
4. Lying face up, bend your knees and place your feet on the floor, legs apart at hip width. Raise your pelvis without raising your shoulders from the floor, clenching the quadriceps and the buttocks. 
5. Standing, with your feet slightly apart and your knees soft, lift your arms and put your hands together behind your head. Bend your torso to the right and to the left. Repeat the complete exercise ten times.
6. From the same starting position, put your hands on your waist. Twist your torso to the right as through you want to look at something behind you. As far as you can. Turn back and again and repeat on the left side.
7. Lie face down with your elbows at chest level, supporting the entire forearm. Lift your body so that you are supported by your forearms and the tips of your toes. Hold yourself straight like a plank and keep the position for 30 seconds, if you can. Repeat ten times.
8. Sit on a stool and push your shoulder blades back and together, with your neck stretched and your head high. Hold the position for a few seconds. Relax, breathe in and repeat several times.

These exercises improve the elasticity and plasticity of the flexors and tendons of the toes. They prevent contracture of the trapezium, strengthen the shoulders and pectoral muscles, distribute the load on the quadriceps toward the ball joint, and the ligaments that protect them, and exercise the lower back muscles.

Poor postural hygiene and strain continue to be a serious long-term health concern. Look after yourself and be cautious!

This post is also available in: Italian