Ask the Doctor: Lifting Heavy Objects

The question this week focuses on heavy lifting and injury prevention:

I lifted a heavy table last week and while I tried to lift properly with my back, I ended up hurting my neck. What is the best way to lift a heavy item?

Injured backs and necks from heavy lifting is a common reason for people to visit their chiropractor for adjustments or their medical doctor for muscle relaxers and pain medications. 

So, we've all heard the advice to bend at the knees, keep the back straight and then stand up using the knees. How often do we follow that? Especially when something is a little too heavy for us to lift, we often use improper technique to compensate and try to lift that heavy object up off the ground. It's important to stick with that posture while lifting. If the object is still too heavy or you find yourself having to do weird things to end up lifting, get extra help. 

Being all of 5-feet-2-inches tall and 115 pounds, I have encountered times where I had to lift something heavy and I was all by myself. I won't even go into the time when I first moved out to California and had to get my TV out of the box it was in. Let's just say it was comical. Fortunately, I didn't end up hurting myself. I was a little creative with how I got the TV out of the box because I knew I just couldn't lift it. 

I also encounter people who lift heavy weights as part of an exercise routine, whether they're doing Olympic-style lifts for competition, to build muscle, or just for fun. There is almost always some history of low back trauma in these people as well. Why does that happen? It's likely improper technique with lifting those heavy weights. It can also be the result of repetitions. For example, I injured my lower back in early May doing dead lifts. While the weight I was lifting wasn't that heavy (my slightly poor technique prevents me from lifting heavier weight), I did a pretty good number of repetitions in a short amount of time. So multiply some mildly poor technique by 50 repetitions...that was not pretty. However, I learned a lesson— keep that back and chest up when lifting.

While the proper position to lift is knees bent and keeping the head and chest up, I've found that many people can't do that motion effectively, let alone add a heavy weight to it. Just for fun, try going into a deep squat. Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart, toes pointed ahead (or slightly out), raise your arms straight above your head and drop into a squat. Your butt should go below the level of your knees. Now look at your chest and arms - are you leaning forward at all? If you are, you're already in a compromised position to lift something heavy. 

The person who hurt their neck as a result of this heavy lifting was using too much neck and shoulders to compensate. Poor positioning, grip, and maybe a weird-sized object all have the potential to injure someone.

So, I recommend getting extra help to ease the load and maybe working on a squat with some professional help. I consider myself in good shape and flexible, and a deep squat is even a hard position for me. My upper body doesn't like to extend. If you find that this is the case with you (or there is pain or any other dysfunction in a deep squat), I recommend you find someone to help you gain some mobility, decrease the pain if any, and work on technique.

Have a great week out there and stay cool. If you have a question you'd like featured next week, email me at QureshiDC@gmail.com. Thank you for reading.