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Back To Front Chiropractic, a leading Brisbane Chiropractic practice, has issued an alert via its founder, Travis West, about a spike in neck, back and shoulder injuries as a result of the 1 July 2018 legislation change to ban “single use” shopping bags and replace them with so called multiple use “green bags”. Travis and the Back To Front team are fully supportive of this environmentally sensitive change but still thought it was important for them to highlight the increased occurrence of back, neck and shoulder pain injuries, resulting from “green bags”, that are impacting people in and around Brisbane. Travis is well known for a high quality, patient first approach to treating pain, postural issues, and ailments. The 7 tips to help prevent people suffering neck, back and shoulder injuries are based on Travis’s patient first philosophy which includes highlighting the dangers and resulting in a happier outcome for all parties.
More information about Back To Front Chiropractic and Travis West’s philosophy to patient care can be found at: http://backtofront.com.au
Travis West, whose experience sees him engaged as a chiropractic consultant by Sleepy’s (a major Australian Mattress Retailer) for whom he developed a training course helping Sleepy’s staff become proficient in assessing individual body types, common postural issues, and a variety of physical ailments that can affect sleep. Enabling Sleepy’s staff to match these presentations to a mattress and offer customers the best service. While not anywhere near as detailed these 7 “green bag” injuries prevention tips certainly continue Travis’ patient first approach and the mantra that prevention is better than cure.
Travis West, of Back To Front Chiropractic, stated “Helping people in the community be aware of shifting trends that are impacting their wellness is really important to us. At Back To Front we noticed a significant increase in injuries related to the green bag shopping bag change and thought we needed to raise the awareness of this issue. Importantly, with any change there needs to also be a change in our habits.”
The major concern is that people need to understand the dramatic increase in weight that they can now be subjected to. Whilst we use to carry 4-6 bags at a time, due to the increased strength of the green bags, the weight can be 3-4 times heavier. Throw in the multiple lifts involved; from checkout to trolley, trolley to car, car to house, house to pantry/fridge, and with an average grocery load of, say 60kg then getting it home with 3-4 lifts from shelf to home equates to 180-240kgs lifted. This almost creates the perfect storm for increased risk of injury. Back To Front want to help stop these injuries from occurring.
While the extra weight is a major concern other serious issues are that, unfortunately, most lifting is done in a very inefficient manner and with hidden dangers lurking within the grocery obstacle course. At the checkout, in order to get the groceries from the counter into the trolley the weight is out in front and lifted over and then down into trolley. Then from trolley to car we lift from down low usually in a hunched position, over the trolley and then away from the body into the car. Finally, our back breaking effort ends with going from the car into the house where we lift from lower down in boot, walking into house then either up onto bench or lowering to the floor. Plenty of opportunities for poor posture and lifting technique to take its toll.
Travis added “At Back To Front we don’t only feel the need to raise awareness when we see developing trends that impact peoples wellness but really think it is important to educate people on the steps they can take to help prevent these possible injuries. That is why we developed the 7 tips to prevent neck, back and shoulder injuries from green bags. Perfectly aligned with our patient first mantra here at Back To Front.”
So, with the dangers identified here are the 7 tips to prevent neck, back and shoulder pain due to the introduction of green bags for our groceries:
1/ Don’t over pack green bags – especially with heavier items (over 1.5kg)
2/ Snuggle up – that is try to get as close as possible to the bag before lifting up.
3/ Pretest the load – every bag will be a different weight – give it a light lift first to help your brain prime your muscles for the expected effort
4/ Park with plenty of room to get trolley close to the car
5/ Put all your grocery bags (or as much as possible) in the boot rather than the back seat or floor. It avoids the more awkward bending and twisting to get in and out of car.
6/ Ask for help – kids, neighbours, partners if available
7/ Check for any holes/rips in the bags or handles
Travis left with one parting comment “For those people who are interested in some general health tips they can always go onto our Facebook page – just search for Back To Front. We post twice a day at least with tips on stretching, general wellbeing and some other fun facts.”
To see the tips and fun facts provided by on the Back To Front Chiropractic Facebook page go to: https://www.facebook.com/Back-To-Front-Chiropractic-182868661793/
Release ID: 451910