Exercise regime can make all jobs easier.
Exercise regime can make all jobs easier
Work, no matter what kind, can take a toll on your body.
Whether you’re a burly construction worker, a nurse in a busy hospital ward or a secretary who spends the day transcribing notes and records, your work has an impact on your physical health and wellbeing.
Finding ways to combat and overcome those effects is key to ensuring health and happiness at work as we strive to overcome or avoid workplace stress, repetitive strain injuries, pain, poor posture and deteriorating muscles.
Whether you spend your days sitting at a desk, standing in front of a classroom, making deliveries or working on a construction site, there are things you can do to address trouble areas, prevent injury and strengthen your body and mind.
Research shows exercise can make us better at our jobs. Exercise helps improve focus, elevates mood, boosts energy and confidence, and contributes to greater productivity and enjoyment.
Lorna Coady, a high school special needs teacher from St. John’s, spends much of her workday standing. This creates a variety aches and pains in her feet, ankles, back and shoulders.
“I am on my feet a lot, bending over to help the students, and spend a great deal of time walking,’’ Coady said.
“This caused me a lot of back pain, which added to the stresses of the job, the fatigue and mental exhaustion, and I also developed plantar fasciitis,’’ she added.
Plantar fasciitis is common among those who spend a lot of time standing and is the inflammation of a band of tissue running along the bottom of the foot.
Coady has been working with personal trainer Krista Hogan at Goodllife Fitness on Blackmarsh Road in St. John’s.
Her workout is comprised of stretching and strengthening key areas —calves, hamstrings, shoulders and upper back.
“Something as simple as just pulling my shoulders back helped with my back pain. In addition, I lost weight (35 pounds), gained more energy and lowered my stress levels,’’ she said.
“If I am having a bad day, I get here to the gym and in five minutes I am laughing.”
Coady teaches at Leary’s Brook Junior High, where she works with the LEARN program dealing with refugee children. A lot of her students come from highly stressful backgrounds and she says she carries some of the weight of their burdens with her — something she didn’t realize initially.
Add to that she’s had two car accidents in three years, the most recent in January, plus the day-to-day stresses most people have.
“Krista has helped me through a lot of this. I missed this (week’s workout) and I feel like crap for not being there,” she said.
With most strength training regimens, there has to be an equal amount of stretching to help with a range of motion.
In Coady’s case, Hogan used myofascial release, foam rolling, rolling a ball under Coady’s foot, ankle rolling and other stretches.
“I have been working with Lorna now for a full year and I have seen a great improvement in her,’’ Hogan said.
“Her core strength — which helps her lower back — and the upper back for posture muscles is an area she worked hard on.’’