Driver injuries managed closely in new NASCAR

By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
June 3, 2006

DOVER, DEL. — The first person Tony Stewart met with after driving a handful of practice laps around Dover International Speedway on Saturday was crew chief Greg Zipadelli.

Al Shuford was the second.

Certified athletic trainers typically don’t hang out in the Nextel Cup garage. According to Shuford, there are only two — Phil Horton of Chip Ganassi Racing and Lance Munksgard of MB2 Motorsports — besides him in the series.

But as the sport continues to grow so does the importance of keeping the marquee players healthy. That was driven home again when Stewart broke his right shoulder blade a week ago at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

“What we’ve done is taken the old-fashioned concept of what we do as certified athletic trainers in other sports and taken it to a different venue,” said Shuford, a former trainer for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.

Washington Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs, the owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, introduced Shuford to NASCAR in 1999 when Bobby Labonte suffered an injury similar to the one that will keep Stewart from going past the first couple of cautions in Sunday’s 400-mile race.

He hired Shuford full time in 2000 and set up a complete rehabilitation center that has continued to expand.

Shuford has done everything from rehabilitate the torn ligaments of pit crew members to nursing the hand of driver Denny Hamlin, who recently needed 19 stitches from an injury suffered while frolicking around the hauler.

“When the boss comes and thanks me for taking care of Denny, it means something,” Shuford said. “He’s got experience in this with the [NFL]. He understands and appreciates a lot more than most everything it takes to keep everything going.”

Shuford has spent the past week making sure Stewart is comfortable enough to start the race and collect all the points necessary to remain in contention for a second consecutive title. He’s fitted him with a new state-of-the-art brace and put him through hourly treatments.

He also has worked with helping Stewart exit the car most effectively and comfortably after the first caution or two so that relief driver Ricky Rudd can finish.

Stewart doesn’t downplay Shuford’s importance.

“I couldn’t do this by myself,” he said as he watched a fishing show in the back of his hauler.

Years ago, drivers did this by themselves. Many hid the fact that they were injured in order to compete.

In 1984, Rudd taped his eyes open with duct tape so he could run the Daytona 500 with a concussion.

“I didn’t know there was but one way at the time,” the 49-year-old Rudd said. “I just had a golden opportunity in front of me to drive for Bud Moore in a legendary operation. And here I was hurt.

“I guess I was too stubborn to turn that steering wheel to somebody else.”

Shuford said drivers with Stewart’s injury used to tape themselves to the seat to cut back on movement and subsequent pain.

Stewart wasn’t given the luxury of deciding what to do this weekend. The decision was made by a committee that consisted of JGR president J.D. Gibbs, vice president Jimmy Makar, Zipadelli and Shuford in consultation with other medical staff.

The decision was made to speed up the healing process enough that Stewart will be ready to run next week at Pocono without much discomfort.

“Deciding what’s going to be best for him long term, what’s going to be best for our group long term?” Shuford said. “And taking the sport out of it, what’s going to be best for Tony the next 50 years of his life? That’s how we make our decisions, not on the short term and now.”

Shuford fitted Stewart with a brace made by AlignMed. The device was brought to his attention by a member of the company who saw Stewart’s crash on television.

Shuford said the brace is more advanced than the one he used on Labonte in 1999 in that it optimizes scapular motion, increases rotator cuff strength and equally distributes the forces that go through the spine during normal driving.

“He likes it,” Shuford said of Stewart, still wearing the brace that isn’t visible underneath the driver’s suit. “It took the pressure off significantly. And I added a little something extra under it to add a little more feeling of comfort and security to it.”

Shuford said the brace and initial adrenalin rush could make Stewart feel so comfortable he might want to stay in the car longer than planned.

“We are leaving it up to him based on his comfort and his [pain] level,” he said.

But the plan remains for Stewart to exit early. If recent history holds true, the first caution will come out between Laps 3 and 15.

“Jimmy Makar and I were laughing about this last night,” Shuford said. “When Bobby did his and the first caution came out [on Lap 10] he kept driving. We had this agreement, ‘Dude, when the first caution comes out, get out of the car and Matt Kenseth is going to drive.’

“So when the first caution came out he said on the radio, ‘This feels pretty good. I think I’m going to drive some more.’ I remember looking at Jimmy like, ‘What’s up?’ ”

Zipadelli said taking such decisions out of the driver’s hand is smart business, particularly with the new Chase format that doesn’t allow for as many slipups with the season divided into segments of 26 and 10 races.

“You could basically throw out a couple of races when it was just a 36-race schedule,” he said. “Before, you could just work on consistency. Now you’ve got to be ready every week.

“The more and more competitive it gets, the closer they make cars, you’ve got to do everything you can to get an advantage.”

Getting Stewart ready has kept Shuford hopping. He’s spent the weekend giving Stewart ice treatments, electrical muscle and bone stimulation, and limited exercise that simulates turning a steering wheel.

“Basically, we started the process of getting him comfortable and getting more functional outside the car at first,” he said. “And then everything will transfer inside the car.”

Shuford expects the driver transfer to run smoothly. He’s worked on getting Stewart to rotate his body and use his left arm for leverage as he positions for a crew member to pull him out.

“He can use his right arm,” said Shuford, who is constantly telling Stewart not to hold his right arm across his chest like Napoleon Bonaparte. “He’s able to resist and protect himself. He’s just a little apprehensive using it getting in and out.”

Shuford’s goal is to have Stewart, fourth in the points, running at full strength in four to five weeks so he’ll be ready for the final 10 races.

His goal is to have the entire organization at full strength for the Chase.

“I told them y’all might as well get your injuries in now,” Shuford said with a laugh. “When it gets toward the Chase I’m going to be out of the body part business.”

 

To improve strength, reduce pain, and increase your fitness, energy, and endurance: Visit www.alignmed.com

Brace Supports Moms’ Calls to ‘Sit Up!’

Levon Carter doesn’t find herself slouching as much these days. Her Scapula Stabilizing System (S3) brace won’t let her.  “It holds you in place,” said Carter, a Brandon resident. “It gets your attention to straighten back up.”

The S3 brace, a full upper body garment with elastic straps, is designed to improve posture, reduce pain and increase range of motion.

“It basically brings you back into scapula retraction, which in laymen’s term is good posture,” said Alan Whitfield, physical therapist at the Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center Therapy Center. “It doesn’t let you roll your shoulders forward.

The brace, which has been on the market for about 18 months, corrects posture by re-educating the area around the shoulder and spine.
“When properly placed across the shoulder area, it helps an individual develop better posture so that it in turn strengthens the muscles that create a better foundation for the shoulder to move,” said John Tillery of Byram, a former head athletic trainer of Mississippi College who is now a sales rep for H&H Orthopedic. “You want to have a good foundation for shoulder and elbow function, and the scapula (shoulder blade) is that foundation. If you have a good shoulder blade foundation, then you have a good foundation for the rest of the upper arm to work off of.”

The brace is used to help recover from injuries associated with rotator cuff tears or tendonitis, shoulder instability, cervical neck pain and mid-back spasm type pains.

“But anybody who has really poor posture can get some use out of it as well,” Whitfield said. “It basically pulls you up into that posture that your mama told you to get in years ago.”

Carter, who underwent rotator cuff surgery in August, has noticed improvement since wearing the brace – and even when she’s not wearing it.
“Even when I don’t have it on and I catch myself on the computer slouching over, I pull myself back now,” Carter said. “I’ll say to myself, ‘OK, I don’t need to be sitting like that.’ When you have it on and you’re slouching, it kind of hurts because it pulls on you. It gets your attention to straighten back up.”
Tillery estimates 70 percent of users, like Carter, are in the general population, while the other 30 percent are athletes.

In fact, part of the clinical trials for the device were done in the Philadelphia Phillies organization to test improvement in shoulder strength.

“Oftentimes, athletes neglect to condition the muscles that are around the bottom part of the shoulder blade,” said Tillery. “And also people who have shoulder injuries, whether they are overhead laborers or clerical personnel, those muscles on the bottom part of the shoulder blade begin to not function properly.”

According to a study by the U.S. Department of Health, nine of 10 people in the United States eventually will seek help for back pain. Also, increased computer usage in the workplace has led to a large increase of people suffering from poor posture.

“It’s a dynamic training brace, so you wear it while you’re moving to help those muscles re-educate themselves,” Tillery said. “It could be cooking, driving or computer work, but you need to be doing some type of activity.”

The brace, only available with a medical prescription, costs $650.

“It’s well worth it,” said Carter. “When they first told me about it, I had no idea what they were talking about, and I wasn’t so sure at first. But it has really helped.”

strong>To improve strength, reduce pain, and increase your fitness, energy, and endurance: Visit www.alignmed.com

The Power of Posture

Poor posture is not posture without money, but rather a bad physical habit that contributes to pain and disease.
By Dr. John A. Pecora

When you were young, adults would tell you to “sit up straight,” “don’t slouch,” “lift your chin up” and “pull your shoulders back.” You may have resented the harping at the time, but this wasn’t just another suggestion they were making to hear themselves speak. They knew that as you get older, you start to acquire aches and pains that might have been avoided if someone had just educated you on how to more effectively correct your posture.

Posture is one of the most controllable aspects of health, yet bad posture continues to lead to millions of hours of missed work every year – as well as, potentially, a lifetime of tension and discomfort.

Poor Posture can cause arthritis, chronic pain, muscle spasm and inflammation, degenerative disc disease, poor circulation, headaches, numbness and tingling in the hands and feet, reduced range of motion, difficulty breathing and a number of other systemic conditions. Happily, physiological imbalances caused by slouching at your computer or hunching over when you drive can be corrected by fixing your posture.

Listen to your body
Let’s look at it from a practical standpoint. The body is a machine, like a car. It is designed structurally in such a way that muscles, which are controlled by your nervous system, work in unison with one another to support movement and activity. Every time you decide to lift your arm, your brain sends a signal to the group of muscles that produce the actual movement of the limb, muscles that assist this movement and muscles that resist this movement. The way we maneuver effortlessly through our everyday lives is an amazing demonstration of physics.

But, just as with a car, there is daily wear and tear on our biological “machine” caused by faulty biomechanics and abnormal positioning. This impaired motion can be avoided by simply addressing your everyday routines, listening to your body and becoming aware of the quiet signs and symptoms that may manifest themselves into larger, more annoying conditions.

How did posture get poor?
Stedman’s Medical Dictionary defines posture as “the position of the limbs or the carriage of the body as a whole.” Basically, posture is the positioning the body assumes during any activity, whether it’s sitting, standing or walking. Poor posture is created when muscular imbalance and repetitive dysfunctional movement patterns habitually create a form that your body holds onto.

One example of this type of bad physical habit is “forward head carriage.” This posture, which is all too familiar to many of us, is the product of what is known as “upper cross syndrome,” or tight musculature on top of and in front of our shoulders and neck, and weak muscles between the shoulder blades that are responsible for holding the scapulae back and retracted against your rib cage.

As your shoulders are allowed to round forward, your chin has a tendency to jut out, allowing your head to slip forward. Now, everyone who has seen the movie Jerry McGuire knows that the average human head weighs 8 pounds, and for every inch your chin slips forward, your head seems to increase in weight.

To illustrate how this causes problems, assume that your head weighs the customary 8 pounds. Now imagine holding an 8- pound bowling ball out in front of you all day. It’s no wonder that the muscles in your neck and on top of your shoulders feel like rocks, and every time you sit for a prolonged period at your desk your upper back begins to burn and ache.

Fixing the problem
So what to do? Everyone says “correct your posture,” but no one gives us a blueprint to actually accomplish this goal. How do you reverse a lifetime of faulty conditioning patterns influenced by your workplace, your car and your stressful live? How do we undo the years of burning knots in our shoulders and backs, the headaches and the shooting pains that have molded us into a society that has to check our blind spots by turning our entire body and not just our neck?

Awareness is the key. You have to become reacquainted with your own personal vehicle by listening to your body’s attempts to inform you when something isn’t functioning properly. Conscious attentiveness to positioning and paying attention to your body’s response system is your most powerful tool in combating poor posture.

But what do we mean by being aware? I’m sure that everyone notices the aches and pains they experience on a daily basis. When we talk about awareness, we’re not referring to awareness of the symptoms of the dysfunction, but rather a conscious attentiveness to the posture that leads us to the end product, discomfort. In doing so, we are able to address the issues, retrain and reverse these faulty patterns and condition ourselves to live a more balanced and upright existence. In doing so, we raise our quality of life.

And while we’re at it, let’s dispel the myth that chronic aches and pains we deal with from day to day are “normal,” something we just have to live with until they go away. What actually happens is that the body, unbeknownst to us, begins to accommodate and compensate over a period of time, and we begin to build a progressive layer of imbalances that slowly allow other conditions, like osteoarthritis or degenerative disk disease, to settle in. There are things you can do about your discomfort – but you have to be aware of what’s causing it.

Major disconnect
Despite increasing evidence that posture affects almost every physiological function ­ from breathing to hormonal function, from musculoskeletal pain and headaches to mood, blood pressure, pulse and lung capacity ­ the significant influence of postural effects on health are still not addressed by most physicians.

So are we nearing a postural epidemic? Is there anyone who isn’t affected somehow by poor posture? And what is the solution to our society’s movement toward the adulthood fetal position?

The answers to those questions are complex, but here are a few quick things you can work on that will make a world of difference when it comes to correcting your own posture.

1. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and hold for a three-second count whenever you notice that you’ve been hunched over at your desk or in your car for too long. This will allow the muscles that are responsible for holding you in those positions a chance to reset, and thus give them more time before they begin to fatigue and spasm. It will also help to wake up the stabilizing muscles responsible for holding
you shoulder blades back, and keep that 8-pound bowling ball on top of your body instead of suspended out in front
of it.

2. Try to breathe through your nose whenever possible. This will help to keep you relaxed and focused on the present moment, thus reducing tension and stress. It will also help you learn to become more connected with your own personal vehicle, your body.

3. Listen for the body’s whisper that something is wrong, instead of waiting for the scream of injury or disease.

4. And last but not least, “Sit up straight and don’t slouch.” OCM

Dr. John A. Pecora operates his practice, Harbor Chiropractic, within the Interdisciplinary Health Center in Newport Beach. The Health Center offers chiropractic, acupuncture and massage therapy to provide patients with an advanced treatment plan for optimal recovery as well as prevention and wellness care. Address: 2700 West Pacific Coast Hwy, Suite #234, Newport Beach. Phone: 949.631.1440

To improve strength, reduce pain, and increase your fitness, energy, and endurance: Visit www.alignmed.com

Back, Neck, Shoulder Pain? Why use the S3 Brace?

AlignMed – The S3 Brace

The AlignMed S3 places the scapula in the ideal position for shoulder function by providing proprioceptive and kinesthetic cues by applying pressure on the inferomedial corner of the bone and on the pec major musculotendinous junction.

It is ideal for patients with:

- Postural dysfunction with protracted scapulae (rounded shoulders) and forward head position. This would include people who sit at computers, assembly line workers, surgeons, etc.
- Scapular dyskinesis – both proximally and distally based.
- Long thoracic mononeuropathy.
- Lower trapezius and/or serratus anterior weakness.
- Subacromial impingement syndrome.
- Anterior instability.
- Multidirectional instability.
- Internal impingement.
- Bicep tendonitis.
- Overhead throwing athletes with shoulder dysfunction.
- Throwers might wear the S3 after throwing (i.e. pitchers) to rest their arm and prevent the feeling of “hanging” pitchers often complain about.
- Upper extremity overuse syndromes.
- Patients should wear the S3 early in the rehabilitation process to educate the body and mind of the correct positional sense.
- Patients’ who sit at a desk or computer for an extended period of time.
- As an orthosis for patients with upper body weakness.

To improve strength, reduce pain, and increase your fitness, energy, and endurance: Visit www.alignmed.com

Postural and Respiratory Modulation of Autonomic Function, Pain, and Health

American Journal of Pain Management:

Abstract:
Posture and normal physiology and function are inter-related. Abnormal posture is evident in patients with chronic pain-related conditions including backache, headache, and stress-related illnesses. Posture training and gravity-centered breathing may play a role in comprehensive treatment of patients with chronic pain and stress related problems.

Highlights

“Despite considerable evidence that posture affects physiology and function, the significant influence of posture on health is not addressed by most physicians?”

“Observations of the striking influence of postural mechanics on function and symptomatology have led to our hypothesis that posture affects and moderates every physiologic function from breathing to hormonal production. Spinal pain, headache, mood, blood pressure, pulse, and lung capacity are among the functions most easily influenced by posture?”

“The most significant influences of posture are upon respiration, oxygenation, and sympathetic function. Ultimately, it appears that homeostasis and autonomic regulation are intimately connected with posture?”

“For many years physiologists have shown that the position of the head on the neck is vital because it governs all postural reflexes. If the head is misaligned, other parts of the body move in and out of line to maintain balance and thus energy is expended to counteract the effects of gravity?”

“Korr concluded that long-term hyperactivity of the sympathetic system is harmful both to the body as a whole and specifically to individual organs affected by segmental “sympathicotonia?, induced by spinal and paraspinal musculoskeletal dysfunction. Areas of focal sympathetic hyperactivity are correlated with musculoskeletal strain, and such areas can be produced experimentally by postural insults such as placing three-eighths inch lift under one foot?”

“Reich included posture and respiration in his concepts of health. For instance, he believed that tension led to decreased blood flow and that this decrease in tissue oxygenation was a major factor in disease, including cancer?”

“At the Shealy Institute, clinicians have consistently observed striking postural abnormalities in virtually every patient with back pain, headache, or depression?”

“Postural abnormalities seem to contribute some degree of autonomic, myotonic, and sensory facilitation in most patients with headache; even modest improvements in posture often assist patients in achieving greater comfort?”

“Optimal posture and its accompanying improved respiration/oxygenation offer potentially powerful influences upon autonomic nervous system functions?”

Medical Publications

by John Lennon, BM, MM, C. Norman Shealy, MD, Roger K. Cady, MD, William Matta, PhD, Richard Cox, PhD, and William F. Simpson, PhD
Volume: AJPM Vol. 4 No. 1 January 1994 pgs 32-35

To improve strength, reduce pain, and increase your fitness, energy, and endurance: Visit www.alignmed.com

Contact Alignmed

Alignmed’s Address: 2400 S. Pullman St., Santa Ana, CA 92705

Alignmed’s Phone Number: 800-916-ALIGN (2544)

Alignmed’s Fax Number: 866-532-4047

Alignmed’s Website: www.alignmed.com

Distributor Information: www.alignmed.com/alignmed-apparel-distributors

Can Your Clothes be the Answer to Posture Problems?

Research tells us that in an average person’s lifetime, they will spend a total of 36 years sitting. Basic anatomy shows that humans did not evolve to be sitting creatures; as a result our bodies aren’t equipped for this kind of sedentary lifestyle. This is why eighty percent of Americans will suffer from back pain at some point in their lives.

The U.S. Department of Health says one way to minimize the health problems of sitting for too long is to correct poor posture. Easier said than done, especially when our lives require us to; drive, sit at a desk, and spend many hours on a computer.  In order to sit in the correct way, you would be sitting at a 110-degree angle between your legs and spine, with your bottom pushed well into the back of the seat and your back, legs and bottom in contact with the chair. Can you say “Awkward?”

Another option is a concept known as “Evidence Based Apparel.” Created by top orthopedic surgeons and made by a company called Alignmed, “Evidence Based Apparel” are under garments designed to instantly improve posture, performance and appearance.

Alignmed’s Evidence Based Apparel are orthopedic garments with bio-feedback to stimulate your brain to optimize natural muscle balance, improving strength, range of motion, and endurance. In short, Evidence Based Apparel senses when your posture is poor and sends a message to your brain that sends a message to your body, prompting you to straighten up, instantly!

Over time and with consistent wear, Evidence Based Apparel with naturally retrain your body and improve posture. Research tells us improved posture equates to improved physical appearance and performance.

Alignmed has launched their Evidence-Based Apparel line to address the number of shoulder, spine, and back injuries reaching epidemic proportions. Alignmed’s Posture Shirt, ExoMed, and S3 Brace counteract the negative effects of American’s sedentary life style, which consist of many hours driving and working on the computer.

Alignmed’s mission is to help patients and athletes stay injury free, pain free, and at the top of their game. The company’s growth in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia has been a testament to the unique benefits of Alignmed Inc.’s Evidence Base Apparel line.  Alignmed’s products are finally available to the general public at www.alignmed.com or call 1-800-916-2544!

Get it Straight: Simple Steps to Improve Your Posture

Newswise — As National Correct Posture Month, May is the perfect time to focus on keeping your spine healthy. University of the Sciences in Philadelphia’s Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Dr. Greg Thielman offers simple exercises and solutions to improve your posture—and avoid a lifetime of aches and pains.

Posture is the position in which you hold your body upright against gravity while standing, sitting or laying down. Good posture involves training the body to stand, walk, sit, and lie in positions where the least strain is placed on supporting muscles and ligaments.

“Poor posture can lead to loss of shoulder motion, chronic pain, walking deficits, neck-related headaches, the inability to exercise, and more,” warned Dr. Thielman. “However, aside from contributing to a good appearance, the long-term benefits of proper posture include helping to decrease abnormal wearing of joint surfaces, lessening stress on the ligaments of the spine, preventing the spine from becoming fixed in abnormal positions, and preventing backache and muscular pain.”

To improve strength, reduce pain, and increase your fitness, energy, and endurance: Visit www.alignmed.com

To help you keep your spine healthy, Dr. Thielman shared the following exercises and tips:

• Evaluate your workstations: A workstation is anywhere that an individual spends a notable amount of time daily and for many of us, our primary workstation is standing or sitting at a desk. “If you’re sitting, don’t drop a ton of money on an ergonomic chair. Instead, position the chair to provide lumbar, shoulder, and if needed, head support.”

• Perform daily exercises: Dr. Thielman recommends regularly exercising the large muscles on the front and back of the thigh, the abdominal muscles, and performing three exercises daily:
▪ Pelvic Tilt: “While sitting, push your pelvis back into the chair, hold it for three seconds and then relax. This tightens and strengthens your abdominal muscles,” explains Dr. Thielman.
▪ Chin Tucks: “Also while sitting, put your pointer finger on your chin and push straight back. Be sure your head isn’t tilted up or down and this exercise will realign your spine and combat forward head position.”
▪ Lean Back: “Lastly, most of what we perform at our workstations forces us anterior, so we’re constantly bending forward. To straighten the spine, stand-up, put your hands on your lower back, and lean back. This exercise combats the effects of being in a forward position.”

• Invest in supportive shoes: Stiletto heels may look good, but Dr. Thielman warns they don’t do women any favors in the posture department. “There is no such thing as a good high heel shoe.” Shoes that cover the top of the foot are ideal. “Each brand fits differently, but the key is to find one that works for you and that gives the much-needed overall support.”

Additionally, Dr. Thielman cautions against carrying backpacks that weigh more than 20 pounds, attempting to lift objects that are too heavy, and repetitively making the same moves without taking frequent breaks. Any one of these actions encourage the forward leaning motion that causes poor posture and back problems.

“A common misconception about good posture is that it can be maintained by only doing occasional strength training. Good posture is more than just standing-up straight and holding your shoulders back, and if you don’t have the muscle strength, you aren’t going to be able to hold that posture for very long. By maintaining your strength and being consciously aware of your posture, you can maintain proper posture and mobility well into your mid-60s, before the natural onset of aging.”

Dr. Thielman is a licensed physical therapist and is available for interviews or demonstrations.

At University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, students embark on a challenging learning experience in a proving ground for successful professionals in the healthcare-related fields. A private, coeducational institution dedicated to education, research, and service, and distinguished as the nation’s first college of pharmacy, the University has produced leaders in the healthcare marketplace since its founding in 1821, including founders of six of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world. With undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs in such disciplines as pharmacy, bioinformatics, physical therapy, healthcare business, and health policy, the 3,000 students in the University of the Sciences’ five colleges learn to excel in scientific analysis and to apply their skills to improving healthcare in their communities and in the lives of people worldwide. For more information about University of the Sciences, visit www.usp.edu

To improve strength, reduce pain, and increase your fitness, energy, and endurance: Visit www.alignmed.com

Alignmed: Poor Posture Could Cost Employers Billions

Citing a wide range of injuries from carpal tunnel syndrome to lower back pain, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, recently issued proposed regulations that would impose sweeping new responsibilities on employers of all sizes.

OSHA’s regulations take aim at work-related injuries supposedly caused by poor “ergonomics” in the workplace, including repetitive motion, overexertion, or awkward posture. The agency claims that so- called musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) account for more than a third of all occupational injuries and illnesses and cost employers as much as $60 billion in direct costs each year. OSHA argues that its new regulations would cost employers $4.2 billion in the first year of implementation, but would actually save money in the long run. “Good ergonomics,” the agency asserts, “is good economics.”

But the agency’s claims have been greeted with skepticism and dismay by the business community. The Small Business Administration, for example, estimates the true cost to employers at $18 billion in the first year alone. Employers have also denounced the lack of sound medical science underlying the regulations, as well as the vague definition of “work-related” injuries that is likely to lead to an explosion in claims and litigation.

The proposed regulations are about 1,000 pages long, so an in- depth discussion is not possible here. However, the key provisions are summarized below.

Who is covered?

The regulations apply to employers of all sizes in nearly every industry. Even employers with 10 or fewer employees must comply with the standard, although some requirements are marginally softer for small businesses. The only industries exempted for now are agriculture, construction, and maritime, but the agency has promised future rules to cover those industries.

The regulations are aimed at specific types of jobs that may be related to MSDs, rather than to the workplace as a whole. Therefore, all employers whose employees work in one or more of the following job categories must follow the regulations:

* Manufacturing jobs such as assembly line workers, product inspectors, machine operators, and cabinetmakers.

* Manual handling jobs such as baggage handlers, nurses aides, beverage deliverers, and garbage collectors.

* Any other jobs in which an employee reports a “musculoskeletal disorder” caused by job activities that comprise a significant part of the employee’s regular job duties.

The final category opens up a virtual Pandora’s box, including millions of clerical and technical workers. A single report of a work- related MSD could trigger the full spectrum of OSHA ergonomics requirements for the employer. Labor unions, fully aware of this fragile threshold, have already indicated they will specifically train their members to watch for and report ergonomic problems.

In addition, the regulations require only that job conditions “are reasonably likely to cause or contribute” to the MSD reported. In practice, this vague standard is likely to subject employers to dubious MSD claims, where the principal cause is actually not work- related.

What do the regulations require?

Employers subject to the full OSHA ergonomics regulations would be required to develop a program consisting of the following six elements:

* Management leadership and employee participation.

* Hazard information and reporting.

* Job hazard analysis and control.

* Training.

* MSD management.

* Program evaluation.

Employers with manufacturing and manual handling jobs would be automatically required to implement a program encompassing the first two steps above, regardless of whether an MSD has been reported. These initial steps involve a variety of requirements, including:

* Developing and communicating ergonomic policies, procedures, and hazard information to all employees, including all new employees.

* Developing a process for employees to report “MSD signs” and “MSD symptoms” to designated individuals.

* Responding promptly to such reports and evaluating them.

* Involving employees in developing, implementing, and evaluating the program.

Once a worker reports a single work-related MSD, the regulations would require the employer to implement the “full” ergonomics program, including all six elements. The full program contains many additional requirements, including:

* Analyzing and eliminating or reducing the MSD hazards of “problem” jobs, with input from employees.

* Training employees and supervisors how to recognize and report ergonomics hazards.

* Monitoring the program at least once every three years, again with input from employees.

* Maintaining full records on the ergonomics program (for any employer with 10 or more employees).

An employer could only avoid implementing the full ergonomics program if it successfully eliminated the hazard within 120 days of the report of the injury, and no other employee reported a similar injury within three years after the employer fixed the hazard.

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City) ,  Jan 27, 2000   by Nathan Whatley

To improve strength, reduce pain, and increase your fitness, energy, and endurance: Visit www.alignmed.com

Knee Support System: Running Technique and Form

1. Your posture should be upright and relaxed, with gaze focused about 10 feet ahead. Imagine a string pulling the sternum to the sky- the chest is lifted, and the shoulders are back and down.

2. Leaning too far forward creates a braking action and overstresses the lower back.

3. Leaning too far back is not only inefficient, providing a weak push off and shortened stride, but also unnecessarily stresses the back, hips and knees.

4. Maintaining proper alignment helps avoid a swayback or excessive lordotic curve (an increased lumbo-sacral angle, often a result of tight hamstrings, tight hip flexors and weak abdominal muscles).

5. Watch the face, tongue, throat, shoulders, fists and even toes as these areas frequently tense up, which wastes energy.

6. When running slowly, arms can be loose and floppy, hanging at about 80 to 90 degrees, or wherever comfortable.

7. The upper body should not twist side to side.

 

To improve strength, reduce pain, and increase your fitness, energy, and endurance: Visit www.alignmed.com or call 1-800-916-2544