Tips to Avoid Injury while Spring Cleaning

As the weather gets warmer and we come out of our winter hibernation from activity, it’s a lot to ask of our bodies to bend and lift and twist in ways we haven’t in a while. Hopefully these five tips will keep you feeling good this spring cleaning season.

FIRST: Warm up and Stretch

You wouldn’t run a race or lift weights without warming up first, so don’t leave out this important step before taking on the task of cleaning either. Remember that it’s actually quite a lot to ask of your body.

You can do a simple jog on the spot, a walk around the house, take the dog out, anything you can think of to get your heart working to pump blood through your body and warm you up from the inside out.

Then, you’ll want to stretch. It doesn’t have to take long, but hit all the major areas like your hamstrings, quads, hip flexors, shoulders, chest, back, and neck. Make sure you spend time on areas that are feeling particularly tight.
The idea is to make sure you’re warm and joints are well-lubricated before you set out.

SECOND: Manage the Loads you Carry

It is much better for your body to take more (and maybe quicker) steps while maintaining good posture than it is to load yourself up and put yourself in a precarious position that could lead to injury.

This applies to cleaning house when we’re talking about doing laundry or carrying boxes or bags of clothes to be donated, etc. It doesn’t even have to be about just the weight of the load. Some lighter items are still large and awkward and cause us to put ourselves in strange positions to carry them. Get someone to help you carry these things.

When lifting heavier items that can’t be divided, you can ask for help if needed and follow these tips:

• Stand close to the item to be lifted with feet hip width apart.
• Bend your knees and keep your back straight to squat down to the level of the object
• Use your legs and arms to slowly lift the item
• Always carry loads as close to the centre of your body as you can
• Pivot to navigate any turns rather than twisting your spine
• To lower the load, bend your knees and keep your back straight

THIRD: Maintain a Neutral Spine

In all activities, you want to have proper posture. So, keeping your head over your shoulders will ensure your neck is in neutral position. Be mindful not to let your chin jut out or lean your head to one side or the other.

Excessive reaching, twisting, and bending in chores like vacuuming and mopping can increase likelihood of injury.

Try to hold the vacuum or mop handle close to the centre of your body at the waist and walk back and forth with it rather than bending though the waist and reaching out your arms. Bad posture puts a lot of strain on your back injury can occur when your muscles get fatigued.

FOURTH: Switch hands

Try to switch it up between right and left when you’re doing things like scrubbing the shower tiles or Windexing mirrors and windows, washing and drying dishes, and hanging clothes. Not only does this prevent injury from creating too much strain on one side of the body, but it can also stimulate neurogenesis which is the building of new neuronal connections in the brain. Recent studies have suggested that creating new neural pathways can be preventative for such things as Alzheimers disease. A nice long-term bonus to add to the short-term goal of avoiding strain!

FIFTH (and Finally) Break up the Work into Smaller Tasks

If you’ve noticed that you’re always sore after a big clean and you’ve followed all of the other tips, it may be a better idea for you to plan ahead to split this huge job into a number of smaller tasks that you can do in 30 minutes stints on a daily basis rather than powering through a really long list of tasks all at once. This decreases stress and risk of injury due to fatigue.

The other nice thing about doing it this way is that it frees up more of your time to have fun!