BY DR. ARNAN SISSON

September 11, 2023

Very often folks suffer with back pain or sciatica that stops them from walking short distances, driving, or even just being able to bend over and tie their shoes with ease.

Another common problem I see is with everyone’s favorite task…..housework! More specifically sweeping or vacuuming is almost impossible. After a minute or two the pain intensifies, goes down the leg, and before you know it your two weeks behind on your house work.

With all that said, I’m going to cover a simple tweak you can make that will get you back to housework while avoiding mounds of Tylenol and Bed rest after the fact.

While working in the past with Janitors and Housekeepers with back pain I found one kind of positioning was the best at allowing them to get back to 6,7, or even 8-hour days sweeping with no issues.

The take home point anyone with back pain should know is this. If you want to be able to sweep or vacuum, you need to keep your lower back in a “perfect” position. And this position is one where the back is slightly extended. While extended the back and supportive muscular is very strong, and the rates of back injury drop’s by at least 40-50%!

When the back is in the opposite position i.e. flexed or bent over, its weakened and prone to muscular strains or even damage to the joint itself.

So you may be thinking, “Okay Arnan, I get it the extended position is best. But how do I actually go about getting that realistically?”

The answer is simple, lift your chest…

When your vacuuming/sweeping lift your chest and get in a lunge position (one leg forward and bent, the other leg back and straight). This is the simplest and most effective way I’ve found in my experience to help someone sweeping/vacuuming avoid a big flair up of back pain.

That’s it for today everyone, knowledge is power!

P.S. How does a free 20-minute session sound? If you’d like me to look at your back for free, then shoot me a call at (804) 493-3256 to set up a discovery session. We only have around 1-2 of these open a week due to current demand. So, call today, to get your session. During it we’ll figure out the likely cause of your back pain and determine treatment options to get you back to cleaning the house, vacations, picking up the grand kids, and even exercising with zero back pain!