Doctors Warning About Dangers Of Raking Leaves Wrong Way
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Many people's weekend plans include some yard work, especially after storms like Thursday's that left behind piles of leaves. While cleaning up leaves might seem like easy work, it's not always and doctors are warning against what they call BLT -- bending, lifting and twisting.
Early fall leaves whipped around by Thursday's gusty winds are piled up everywhere. You'd think cleaning up leaves should be no big deal because they're so light, but that doesn't matter. Doctors say picking up and discarding leaves the wrong way can leave you with an achy back.
"The most important thing you can do is if you're putting any kind of heavy load in some kind of receptacle, is have it close to you and your feet pointing at it," Dr. Chad Adams said. "You want to be able to lift things up and put it directly into the bin to avoid that bend-lift-twist position that puts the body at the biggest compromise."
Doctors say bending, lifting and twisting can cause intense lower back pain, especially when the chore is repetitive.
Bending over causes the bones of the back to separate slightly and they can slip out of place. Muscle strains and soreness are more common.
Doctors say stretching and using heat or cold can help diminish pain. But if the discomfort continues, it could be a sign of something more significant -- especially if someone has had back pain before.
"Quite often these injuries don't go away," Adams said. "The symptoms might subside, but the underlying cause may not go away. You will need to do some kind of rehab in the future to shore up the area, strengthen the area and bring that range of motion back in the correct ranges of motion. This is vitally important."
As it is with shoveling snow, the advice for cleaning up leaves is: take breaks and use both sides of the body and alternate motions to evenly distribute the workload.
