Every profession has a kind of risk of injuries. Being a Conductor is a big challenge of helping people out of their disabilities however, it has a high risk to be injured due to the nature of the profession.
I have a soft tissue problem recently, so this made me to think about the following:
Sore shoulders, aching wrists, arms, legs or feet. Bad backs. These aches and pains aren't just the result of getting older :) or being out of shape. They are often related to our work, especially as a Conductive Education Teacher.
Many conductors are suffering of soft tissue injuries as a result of their work.
These injuries usually sneak up on us. Conductors often get on with their jobs, trying to "work through" the pain or ignore night time tingling in their hands, arms, backs, etc. But the injuries can become very painful and, sometimes permanent, disabilities. Depending on what is injured, other tissues can be affected.
What are these injuries called?
I have a soft tissue problem recently, so this made me to think about the following:
Sore shoulders, aching wrists, arms, legs or feet. Bad backs. These aches and pains aren't just the result of getting older :) or being out of shape. They are often related to our work, especially as a Conductive Education Teacher.
Many conductors are suffering of soft tissue injuries as a result of their work.
These injuries usually sneak up on us. Conductors often get on with their jobs, trying to "work through" the pain or ignore night time tingling in their hands, arms, backs, etc. But the injuries can become very painful and, sometimes permanent, disabilities. Depending on what is injured, other tissues can be affected.
What are these injuries called?
cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs);
overexertion/overuse injuries; and
repetitive strain injuries (RSIs).
Specific names include:
carpal tunnel syndrome (nerves going through wrist);
degenerative disk disease (backbone);
epicondylitis (tennis or golfer's elbow);
myofascial pain/myalgia (tissue covering muscles);
rotator cuff syndrome (shoulder tendons);
sciatica (nerve to leg from discs);
tendinitis (tendons); and
tenosynovitis/de Quervain's (tendon sheath/covering).
What makes it hurt?
Work-related soft tissue injuries can be caused by these risk factors, often working in combination:
repetition: especially for fine movements, strange positions;
force: lifting, pulling, pushing, contact pressure;
posture: awkward and static (in one position);
work environment: temperature, light, noise, humidity; and
work organisation: how hard, fast and long people work, how much say they have about their work and the equipment/tools they use, and social relations at work.
Conductors have a beautiful job title but their actual work can be very risky. Conductors' jobs often involve lots of repetition, precision work, static and/or awkward positions and tasks that are heavier than they look.
Work organization affects all other factors. For example:
Time pressure is important when dealing with people; packing equipment can increase the amount of repetition and force used if you have no breaks or time to do the job properly.
Many conductors lack control about everything from how they do their job to how long they have to, dare to do it.
The nature of CE and lack of proper equipment forces to put themselves at risk of back injuries while moving people.
Lack of respect or stereotyping are additional stressors, combined with generally lower wages.
Studies show that being stressed by things like this increases the odds of having some soft tissue injuries, especially for the back, neck and shoulders.
How are soft tissue injuries prevented?
Prevention is the best way to tackle any health and safety problem. For soft tissue injuries, prevention is based on ergonomics - the science and art of fitting the job and the workplace to workers.
For this we need:
fully-adjustable surfaces, equipment and work places;
a choice of tools for different hands and tasks;
accessible mechanical devices for lifting people or materials;
fully-adjustable chairs or sit-stand stools; and
to prevent stress by such things as:
having more say about your job and how you do it;
doing a variety of tasks;
reasonable schedules, hours of work and breaks;
adequate staff levels; and
proper training about the job and using ergonomic equipment.
How can we deal with a work-related soft tissue injury?
Take care of yourself:
See your doctor about getting time off, "light duty," splints, referrals.
Go to a specialist (rheumatologist, physical/rehab medicine) or occupational health centre.
Investigate massage, physiotherapy, chiropratic treatments, exercise (eg. yoga, Pilates, Alexander technique, Tai Chi).
Take your breaks, walk at lunch and/or do exercises on the job (eg. shoulder rolls, stretching).
2 comments:
A very important point to have put into the public domain. You do your colleagues a service.
You have not mentioned the softest tissue of all, the human mind. What are your observations of the mental strains upon conductors, the damage that these might bring, and how best to prevent or ease such problems.
So the mind... yes it suffers.
One of the problems is setting and keeping personal boundaries within the conductive relationship, especially perhaps with adults..
It can help enormously when two conductors work together, to share the strain, talk things over, take over at difficult moments etc. When you have no sensitive colleague standing by you, you just have to go it alone and sometimes, for example, this might involve listening to a stream of negative comments while you try to introduce a flow of positive ones. All part of the job, I know, but with some people some days it is hard and the soft tissue gets damaged.
How to ease the problem?
Have some lovely work like my stroke group or my workers group' to heal the mind.
Talk to colleagues if you have any and find out each other's strengths and weak points, support each other, allow yourself or your colleague to take the back seat for a while.
Co-workers who cannot allow for this are not really 'colleagues' in the true sense of the word!
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