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13th December 2005
The twelve dangers of Christmas
Although it is the season to be jolly, spare a thought for your health this Christmas as a change of routine can mean you do things you normally don’t -and that’s when accidents can happen.
To help combat this, Didcot-based Etcom People Engineers is issuing its top tips for a safe and happy Yuletide. Etcom managing director, Hugh Babington Smith advises the following tips to help you keep in control this Christmas:
1. If you really must work until the last minute, throw out tradition, go and buy that pre-stuffed or even pre-cooked bird and mince pies in the box. Just smile benignly when the compliments come.
2. When travelling, have your handbag on a strap diagonally across your shoulders hanging in front, to leave hands free for lugging your bags.
3. Use suitcases with wheels, preferably a modern one where the wheels are at the wide side, not both on a narrow corner. Make sure you are pulling one suitable for your height. A small wheelie bag will cause a tall person no end of aches and pains if pulled a long way.
4. If you must drag your laptop with you, either put it in a rucksack or, even better, have a wheelie bag for it, too.
5. When out shopping, learn to park smartly, so you can go back to the car, dump one lot of booty, then trip off lightly to the next grotto. Try not to drag ever increasing amounts of shopping around the town.
6. If you have to be a human mule, balance the load on either side of you, pull in the lower tummy, chest out, relax your shoulders and head and let your frame carry the strain.
7. Use those shops that have a central collecting point, and preferably a carry-to-your-car service, too.
8. And when you do finally flop over the festive period, keep that spine in its proper curves, stuff a cushion behind your lower back in that super soft couch that is just waiting to ruin your back.
9. For that last minute whip round the house with the vacuum cleaner, don't bend over it, but tip from the hip keeping the head, chest and pelvis in one plane (straight). Move the machine by rocking from foot to foot with legs in the step position.
10. Getting the 18lb turkey out of the oven can also be fraught with hazards. Not just spilling the sizzling fat, but doing something horrible in your spine. To avoid harm, set yourself to squat in front of the oven to get the bird out, and straighten up carefully. Bending from the hip to a low level to get a heavy dish out is a recipe for disaster.
11. If you are doing a lot of chopping, get the height right to avoid strain: stand straight, hold the hands with the forearms parallel to the ground, where your hands are is the right height. If you are very short, you may have to stand on something. If you are taller, find something sturdy to go under the chopping block or stand with your legs apart to bring your upper body down.
12. And while you are chopping and you want to see what you are doing, put one foot slightly ahead, bend from the hip with head, chest and pelvis in one plane.
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