Archive for the ‘work injuries’ Category
Your Cincinnati Chiropractor Can Help You to Avoid Work Injuries Due to Falls
As a Cincinnati Chiropractor I treat plenty of older adults who suffer from balance problems. In fact, dizziness, “wooziness,” and other balance-related challenges affect at least nine percent of adults, aged 65 and over. Good balance is crucial, of course, in helping seniors in remaining independent and in avoiding falls and encounter injuries that are frequently extremely serious or even fatal. But, it may surprise you to know that falls are the cause of a large portion of work-related injuries for workers younger than 65 years of age, including workers in their twenties and thirties. That’s right! No one is exempt from to balance difficulties, no matter how young they may be. It is for this reason that those who work at “dangerous heights” like construction workers, roofers, oil platform employees, windows cleaners, or anywhere else where a ladder is required are far more vulnerable to serious injury if their balance is “off.”
The principal action of good balance is to aid us in managing and maintaining our body position, whether standing still or moving, and whether on the ground or high up on a platform. Good balance aids us in walking without staggering, arising from a sitting position without teeterin, and in climbing stairs without missing a step. It is obvious, then, that good balance is extremely important to our health and well-being.
What may be surprising to you is that you could have a balance abnormality without realizing how threatening it is. Sometimes a person can “shake off” a dizzy sensation and the feeling may not return for a while. The problem is that when unexpected dizziness comes about at a consequential time, it is too late to shake it off and a fall is often unpreventable.
When you have the feeling that you, individually, are spinning or that things around you are moving, it is termed “vertigo.” About 40% of individuals in the U.S. will have at least one incidence of dizziness that is serious enough to seek out help from a health professional, like your Chiropractor at Cincinnati Chiropractic. But, if you are involved in any of the activities listed above, having a chiropractor check your balance prior to a distinct episode of vertigo, make adjustments if necessary, and then help you to maintain good balance, may save you from serious injury or worse.
Balance disorders at any age are dangerous. If you think that you may have a possible balance disorder, it is vital for you to be evaluated and treated without delay. Often guidelines are helpful. Therefore, if you can answer “yes” to any of the following questions, even if the experience is seldom or infrequent, you should discuss the symptom(s) with a chiropractor as soon as possible:
• Have you experienced a feeling of being “unsteady?”
• Has the room seemed to spin around you?
• Has there ever a time when you felt as if you were moving when you knew you were standing still?
• Have you lost your balance and/or fallen down?
• Have you ever felt as if you were falling?
• Has your vision ever become “blurred?”
• Have you ever felt disoriented, or lost a sense of time, place or identity?
Remember: Balance problems are not specific to a particular age group. Our falling down is an ever-present possibility from the time we learn to walk until we take our final step All the more reason to have your balance checked if you work in a job that makes your falling down a “critical” issue. Don’t wait until you sustain a work injury! If you’re in the area, give your Cincinnati Chiropractor a call today. I can help!
This item: Walk Yourself Well: Eliminate Back Pain, Neck, Shoulder, Knee, Hip and Other Structural Pain Forever-Without Surgery or Drugs by Sherry Brourman