One of the most common injuries in the workplace are sprains and strains. They occur due to pulling, pushing or over exerting yourself during the manual handling.
There is damage to the soft tissue in the body, which often doesn’t recover, which include damage to muscles, tendons, ligaments, spinal discs, veins and arteries
Main Points
How do these occur:
• Lifting, pulling or holding loads.
• Working in an awkward position involving bending or twisting your body to reach items.
• Working in a fixed position with the back bent, sitting or standing continuously, or driving vehicles for long periods.
• Repetitive tasks such as reaching to lift, lowering objects or to grip tools continuously.
• Using vibrating tools continuously.
• Falls from platforms or machinery.
This can cause:
• Ligament sprains to the upper body.
• Abdominal hernias.
• Ankle injuries.
• Nerve damage – which is normally in the wrist or back of leg.
• Shoulder dislocation and muscle sprain.
• Tendon injuries to the hands, forearms and elbows such as tennis elbow.
Discussion Points:
Preventing Sprains and strains:
• Make sure workers are trained and educated so they can carry out their duties in a safe manner.
• Identify hazardous manual handling tasks.
• Provide rest, rotating workers through different tasks with different demands which is able to give each set of muscles a chance to recuperate.
