Common Musculoskeletal Injuries and How to Avoid Them

Musculoskeletal injuries are the number one work-place injury, and they are not uncommon as sports and household injuries as well. Your musculoskeletal system includes your bones, muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, nerves, blood vessels, and more. A sudden impact can lead to a musculoskeletal injury, but more often they result from over-stressing the system, either in a single incident or over an extended period of time.

Musculoskeletal injuries can affect any part of your body, including neck, shoulders, upper back, lower back, hips, knees, legs, feet, and wrists. Common symptoms of an injury include acute shots of pain, dull, chronic aches, and stiff/swollen joints. These types of injuries affect all ages, but the elderly are particularly vulnerable to them.

There are numerous musculoskeletal injuries that people suffer from. Sometimes they amount to nothing more than a temporary inconvenience, like a mild strain or sprain. Other times however, they can develop into serious, life-altering conditions like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, a torn rotator cuff, a trigger finger, Degenerative Disc Disease, herniated discs, arthritis, or tendinitis.

How to Prevent Musculoskeletal Injuries

If you think you may have already developed a musculoskeletal disease, you should waste no time in scheduling an in-home or work-site assessment to evaluate your condition. If you discover a problem, there are many options, including massage therapy, customized orthotic devices, chiropractic care, prescription medications, and surgery.

If you have minor aches and pains, but do not yet have any major musculoskeletal injuries, you need to learn how to avoid them. Below, we mention some of the main causes of musculoskeletal injuries. By avoiding these causes, you can greatly reduce your risk of injury.

Over-Exertion
If a task is simply too much for your body to handle, it’s better to have someone else handle it. The other option is to break the task up into many small increments, spaced apart by numerous short breaks. Fatiguing your muscles could cause serious damage, so know your limits and respect them.

Highly Repetitive Motions
If your job involves performing highly repetitive motions throughout the day, you could gradually weaken and hurt the muscles/joints involved in making that motion. Within the limits of your job situation, the best solution is to vary your motions, even just a little, to reduce repetitiveness.

Bad Posture
When you lift or perform other activities with an awkward body posture, you put extra force on your joints and tendons. Do not bend your back while lifting heavy objects, and use mid-range motion as much as possible since this is the most efficient way to use your joints.

Poor Health and Nutrition
Being physically out of shape and then suddenly undertaking high-intensity tasks puts you at risk of musculoskeletal injuries. Smoking, excessive alcohol intake, obesity, malnourishment, not drinking enough water and a generally sedentary lifestyle all increase your risk level. Doing daily exercises, taking short walks, keeping properly hydrated, and eating a healthy diet all help your musculoskeletal system.

Lack of Sleep
Those who fail to rest and recoup end up fatiguing their bodies. Without a chance to recover for the next day's tasks, you can develop chronic musculoskeletal imbalances that eventually result in an injury.

If you would like to know more about how to prevent musculoskeletal injuries in your daily routine at home and at work, do not hesitate to contact us at Chiro-Med Rehab Centre to schedule your free consultation.