Back pain is a serious issue for millions of people. In fact, it’s the most-cited body part for missing time at work, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As their frequency suggests, back injuries are a notoriously difficult type of injury for safety professionals to effectively solve. A recent article titled 5 Ways to Beat Back Pain provides several practical solutions to common problems in dealing with back pain in the workplace.

The article tells the story of Kyla Cullain, the CEO of Next Step Transitions Inc., who suffered a back injury while working as a public health nurse and consequently set her up for years of surgeries and rehabilitation:

As she was packing up at one location so that she could rush off to the next, she bent over to retrieve her cooler of vaccines from a cramped corner.
She doesn’t know if it was because she overreached or the vaccine container was too heavy, but the result of her attempt to lift the cooler was three herniated discs and a compressed S1 nerve root that eventually led to an L5 discectomy and set her up for a lifetime of back pain and spinal issues.

The article covers an often overlooked aspect of teaching safe lifting techniques, the importance of habits, and how you can improve employee buy-in for your back injury prevention initiatives. Learn how to prevent similar incidents by reading the full article.

Another great resource on preventing back injuries is SafeStart’s free guide on re-thinking back injuries. It provides an in-depth look at the most important issues in lower back pain, including a solution or two that might surprise you.