Warm Up For Work

Work is not dissimilar to sport.

Everyone knows you should warm-up before exercise or sport.

If you have a physically demanding job, the same principles apply.

There are two main principles dictating the importance of a warm-up.

Firstly, that warmups decrease injury risk and secondly, that they enhance performance.

When you warm-up, you are warming up not just the body, but also the mind. So, when your body and mind are ready for work (or sport), your body is moving safer and stronger and your brain is motivated and focused.

What to warm

Literally warm-up

A proper warm-up should literally warm up the body. There should be a slight rise in body temperature; increased blood flow, nutrients, hydration, and oxygen to the muscles; increasing elasticity of the muscle and increased lubrication of the joints.

This all allows for better mobility and flexibility and strength - but don’t tire yourself out!

Mobility

Why does mobility matter?

Mobility is the ability to move freely. Often, we will consider the mobility of joints or movements relevant to what we require of them.  For example, reaching overhead requires a certain amount of mobility from the shoulder joint.

Given that muscles and their tendons cross joints, it may seem obvious that the flexibility of a muscle influences mobility: if I stretch my arm backwards, I may feel a stretch in my chest or bicep, which then stops me from stretching further back at this time.

Another common example is lifting. Whichever technique is employed (squatting, deadlifting, lunging), if the hips are tight the body will have less ability to bend forward.

Yes, your back is made to bend, which is likely what will happen if you can’t bend your hips and legs enough. However, the back muscles are not as strong as the glutes and legs together, so asking the back to take repetitive load when it may not possess the fitness to do so, does increase injury risk.

Muscle Activation

Activating, or deactivating certain muscles can “remind” the body of how to move safer.

We want the right muscles to be doing the job.

For example, if the glutes are weak, hamstrings take more of the load. While hamstrings and back do extend the hips, the glutes are positioned better for a stronger job. We want to remind the nervous system of which muscles we want to be working most, in order to decrease the load through weaker muscles and maintain optimal power.  – If you want to strengthen the weaker muscles, may be best to practise outside of work!

The activation, or incorrect activation, of certain muscles, can also influence mobility.

Try this!

Lift your arms up out to the side.  You should be able to get it all the way up to your head.

Let’s just pretend that you did.  (If you didn’t you might need to see one our Exercise Physiologists).

Now, assuming you’ve relaxed your arm back down by your side, squeeze your shoulder up towards your ear. From here, try to lift your arm up out to the side again.  Can’t get it as high right?

What’s happening is that when the upper trap and levator scapulae muscles are activating when we don’t want them, there is now not enough space in the joint for the shoulders to take the arm up the whole way.

So, in this case we want to deactivate the upper traps and activate the lower traps and rotator cuff muscles in order to be able to stablise the joints where we want them and activate the delts to be the prime movers. This then improves mobility as well as strength.

There are similar relationship with shoulders and upper back posture when reaching overhead from the front.

Practise the movement

A good warm-up should also include lighter versions of the movement you want to practise. Such as squats, lunges and deadlifts without load, just to make sure you’ve got the safest way down pat.

Have a desk-based job?

You can still warm up your body, particularly the upper back, to help support your posture throughout the day. But the most important thing for you is to keep moving!  

So.. what are you waiting for? Figure out your warm-up before you next shift or book an appointment with us.

🦾Biara Webster, BExSc&Nutr, MClinExPhys(Rehab)