I don’t know about you, but lifting safely didn’t come naturally to me.
Maybe it’s the years I spent hunched on the couch, playing rounds of GoldenEye on my brother’s Nintendo 64. It could be my tendency to slouch into chairs like my spine was made of liquid. Or maybe it just took me too long to understand what “lift with your legs” actually means.
No matter the reason, safe lifting is something I had to learn and practice.
My back liked to get involved whenever I picked something up, so I had to train my body to do it differently. I needed to build safe lifting into my muscle memory before my back gave out.
Lifting safely is an important life skill and essential to avoiding injury on the job. But it’s something many of us learn too late – and tend to forget often.
We could all use a refresher once in a while. So, let’s take a moment to go over the basics of safe lifting.
The Risks of Improper Lifting
Improperly lifting a heavy (or even not-so-heavy) load can hurt you in a few different ways.
Musculoskeletal Injuries
The main risk is getting a musculoskeletal injury – basically, damage to your muscles and joints. Your lower back is the area most likely to get injured, but lifting could also hurt your shoulders, biceps, and triceps.
Musculoskeletal injuries often set in gradually. While one bad lift might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back (or in this case, your back), the real culprit might be the cumulative strain that made your muscles and joints more vulnerable to injury.
Think of it as your body undergoing wear and tear. Your bad lifting habits might seem harmless. After all, you’ve been lifting things the same way for months or years and your back’s still holding strong. But in reality, all those improper lifts might be building up to a serious injury and chronic pain.
Hernias and Slipped Discs
Hernias happen when a segment of the intestine pushes its way through gaps in the abdominal muscles.
A slipped disc is a somewhat similar condition, though in that case it’s one of the discs that sit between the vertebrae that gets moved out of place.
Neither are pleasant. And both can be caused by lifting loads that are too heavy or lifting them in a way that puts too much strain on the body.
Dropped Object Injuries
Most people know that lifting heavy objects could be bad for their backs. But few people stop to think that their feet could also be at risk.
Lifting something awkwardly or getting a sharp muscle pain while carrying a heavy object can cause you to drop what you’re holding. If that heavy item then happens to land on your toes, it can result in a significant injury.
Likewise, dropping an object while you’re walking puts you at risk of tripping over it, which is itself a serious hazard.
Safe Lifting Techniques
Clearly, it’s not worth taking risks when lifting. So, what’s the right way to pick something up?
Proper Lifting Form
First and foremost, you have to keep proper form the entire time you’re lifting, carrying, and setting down an object:
- Position yourself properly: Face the item you’re going to lift (don’t twist to grab it from an angle) and keep your feet about shoulder length apart.
- Squat instead of bending: If you have to get an object that’s lower than your waist, squat down to pick it up. Don’t bend at the hips to reach it.
- Keep a good posture: While grabbing and picking up the item, keep your back straight, your chest out, and your shoulders back.
- Lift with your legs, not your back: If you did it right, you used your legs when you squatted down to pick something up. Now, you have to use your legs again to get back into a standing position. Keep your back straight and let your quads do all the work.
- Squat again to put the load down: If you have to set the object on the ground (or more precisely, on a surface below your waist), use the same motion you did when picking it up – squat down, keeping your shoulders back and your back straight.
Other Safe Lifting Tips
- Take your time: You’re a lot more likely to lift improperly and hurt yourself if you’re rushing. Go at a slow and steady pace to lower your risk of getting injured and to give yourself time to adjust if you feel any discomfort.
- Turn with your feet: If you have to pick something up or place it down in an awkward spot, do it without twisting your body. Turn with your feet instead to limit the strain on your spine and back muscles.
- Carry the item close to your body: Carrying an item with your arms outstretched or holding it above your head will fatigue your muscles and put extra strain on them.
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Give Your Back a Rest
The more tired your muscles, the more likely they are to get injured.
If you’re lifting and carrying one item, that’s not really an issue. But it’s definitely something you should keep in mind when a truck pulls into the loading dock and it’s time to stock up the warehouse shelves.
If you have a lot of lifting to do, be sure to give your back a break every now and then.
Depending on the size and weight of the loads and how far you have to carry them, you might need a short rest between each lift or only at certain internals (say, every 5 or 10 minutes).
It’s difficult to put an exact number on this, so listen to your body. If you start to feel any discomfort or like you’re getting a bit weaker and can’t carry quite as much, take a couple of minutes to rest and let your muscles relax.
Consider the Temperature
This one sounds like it comes out of left field, but it’s true – temperature is a risk factor for lifting.
And no, not just because carrying a heavy load across an icy surface is a slip waiting to happen. It’s actually because of the way your body responds to temperature.
Heat and humidity will tire you out more quickly and speed up the rate of muscle fatigue. As mentioned above, those tired muscles will then be at greater risk of injury.
Don’t just crank up the AC before lifting, though, because the other end of the temperature spectrum isn’t much better. A cold working environment will make your muscles and joints stiffen. And that decreased flexibility will make them less resilient and more likely to get injured.
That doesn’t mean you can’t lift anything when it’s hot enough to make you sweat or that you should stay away from the warehouse when it gets chilly. But it is a risk factor you should take into consideration.
Give yourself and your muscles more frequent breaks when the temperature goes too high or dips too low. If you can, decrease the weight you’re lifting as well. If you can split up the load and carry it in two trips instead of all at once, it’s worth doing on those days
Should You Wear a Back Support Belt When Lifting?
Back support belts are large, usually black belts that wrap around the abdomen. Some also have straps that cross around the back and go over the shoulders, like suspenders.
You’ve probably seen them on warehouse workers or championship weightlifters, although you may never have worn one yourself.
But should you?
Well, the answer is a resounding “maybe.”
These belts are meant to wrap tightly and keep your lower back stiff. This discourages you from absent-mindedly bending in a way that could lead to a musculoskeletal injury. They’re also supposed to reduce the force applied to your spine when lifting something heavy.
Sounds great, right? Just the thing you need when you’ve got several hefty boxes to lift and carry.
The thing is, the jury’s still out on whether back belts will actually protect your back from injury. While there have been multiple studies on the effectiveness of support belts, none of them have been conclusive enough for any of the major safety agencies to recommend their use. In fact, most of them make it a point to highlight that these belts should not be treated as PPE or as an adequate control measure for ergonomic hazards.
Ultimately, it’s up to you. There isn’t any knock-down solid evidence that a support belt will protect you from injury. But if you want to wear one for the extra peace of mind, there isn’t any harm in it – as long as you still follow all the usual safety precautions.
When to Avoid Lifting
Lifting safely also means knowing when not to lift.
Some loads are too heavy to handle, even if they look small enough to manage. Trying to lift them will put too much strain on your body and simply isn’t worth the risk.
The general guideline is to never lift anything heavier than 50 lbs. In fact, NIOSH specifies a 51 lb limit for safe lifting under ideal conditions (perfect posture, no muscle fatigue, decent strength and physical health, and so on). And that’s only for a single, one-and-done lift – the limit is lower if you’re lifting multiple times in a row.
Even if you can physically manage to carry something that exceeds that threshold, you still shouldn’t do it. It might feel heroic when it goes right, but the injury and cumulative physical trauma that can result from it aren’t worth it.
Instead, recruit someone else to help you out. Each grab one end of the object you need to lift and use the proper lifting technique described above.
The same weight guidelines apply, only doubled. Two people should be able to safely lift up to 100 lbs (assuming the weight is evenly distributed). Anything beyond that will have to be lifted and carried with mechanical equipment, like a hoist, pallet jack, or forklift.
Always take the time to do it right. Recruiting someone to help you or fetching the pallet jack might feel like a waste of time. But those extra seconds or minutes is a drop in the bucket compared to the time you’ll lose if a back injury puts you out of commission for weeks – or permanently affects your ability to lift much of anything.
Watch Your Back
It’s easy to forget just how much you rely on your back.
It plays a major role in lifting, standing up, twisting, and turning.
All those things become difficult, painful, and sometimes impossible when your back is in bad shape. And that can affect a large number of your daily activities and your quality of life.
So, do what you can to take care of your back. Never grab more than you can handle, keep proper form when lifting, and take breaks as needed.
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