Long hours working, long hours working hard and grinding to make an income, to provide for your family or to fund your lifestyle. Standing jobs are hard and actually make up a large percentage of my clientele at my Podiatrist clinic in Bankstown. Standing on your feet for excessive hours can put you at risk to many musculoskeletal injuries, cardiovascular issues and even pregnancy problems too!
So I dedicate this video to the hard working people who work long hours standing on their feet. This video I will demonstrate things you can do to improve your positioning to reduce the work of standing long hours!
Whether you work in cafes, restaurants, retail, logistics, warehouses, hairdressers, beauty, heck even the much loved door knocking salespeople, you are on your feet and legs for extended periods of time and in this video I want to demonstrate 5 movements that you won’t necessarily take time away from your work station or working hours. Most of these movements can be done while you are standing at your working area so that your employer or other work colleagues don’t hate you for wasting time.
Prolonged standing is classed as any work performed in a standing position for more than 80% of the full time working hours and can increase the risk of conditions such as heel pain, knee pain, Achilles Tenditinis, Lower back pain, foot and leg numbness and varicose veins.
These conditions are frequent in my office Bankstown Podiatry clinic and I’m sick of seeing you present with pain. It’s funny, when I consult with a client or patient I usually tell them a simple way to relieve their pain is to quit their job and sell all their possessions and move somewhere nice and tropical with soft surfaces such as sand and grass – maybe Fiji? Maybe Bora Bora or maybe the Bahamas?! Obviously that’s a joke, but believe it or not, I’ve had a client agree and they retired to coastal Portugal to live!!
The truth is, you’re not going anywhere, literally! You have your lifestyle to support, investments, family to provide for and bills to be paid. So if this video can help make your working mission more easier than I have succeeded. If this important for you then these exercises are a MUST DO!
These exercises can be done at any time of the day where it be at work or not. Of course the focus of these exercises is during working hours so I suggest you do a minimum of 10 repetitions of each exercise [except for the 5th one] every hour to improve circulation and reduce compressive pressure on joints.
Here we’ve go!… [CLICK THE VIDEO TO WATCH THE DEMO!]
1/ The Foot Rocker
2/ Leg Figure 8
3/ Butt kicks
4/ Knee Ups
5/ Arch rolls
These exercises are what I usually recommend to help reduce risk of muscle injuries, blood pooling or swelling and cartilage compression injuries. If you’re an employer watching, research has found that workers who stand for excessive periods actually reduce their efficiency and effectiveness during work. Think of it as their body has to do two things at work – keep the body at standing posture as well as completing their work task.
So whether you’re an employer, employee, contractor or contractee, I hope you give my 5 exercises a go and to share this video with anyone you know who stands more than 80% of their working hours standing on their feet!
And remember folks,
WALK SMARTER NOT HARDER!
Grant Duong, Podiatry
At the Triumph Institute located in the heart of Bankstown, Sydney we also practice podiatry. It’s a medical field that specialises in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of problems and issues that affect the lower limbs, from the lower back right down to our feet.
