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I need a better body for my job (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago by marin@beehaw.org to c/chat@beehaw.org

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I started working in a fast food kitchen 2 weeks ago and it’s physically stressful so far. I do a lot of meal prep which includes a lot of chopping, carrying, and cleaning. Being on my feet for ~7 hours a day is slowly taking a toll on me and I really want to take preventive measures for long term problems that come with it. My right thumb is numb as I type down this post at 1am because I somehow woke up before 4:30am.

For a little background, this is my first official job where I’m being paid actual money for my work. As per usual, I can’t quit because of finances and I like my coworkers and managers so far. I just want my body to cope with it better and I’m not sure how I should go with it. I was pretty sedentary before I started working. I wear comfortable non-slip shoes with orthotics to better support my arch. I also bought a muscle rolling stick to help massage my feet and leg muscles after work. I think the compression socks I recently got isn’t doing much so I’m going to invest in some Bombas socks soon. What else can I do to prevent breaking my body doing this job?

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[–] fracture@beehaw.org 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

sleep with wrist guards on. the kind with the metal plates in em, that keep your wrist tilted back a bit. both hands. uncomfortable at first but easily the best long term investment for your wrists you can make (this applies for your thumb too, it's all connected)

the fact your thumb is going numb is pretty worrisome. if you can, baby it in the shower hot water and massage it. or alternate running hot and cold water on it (4 min hot, 1 min cold). stretch it, your wrists, arms and shoulders (it's all connected). look up nerve glides and do those as well

i went to wrist pt for a while, this is all stuff i learned from it. hope it helps, seems like you're covered on feet/leg stuff

[–] deo@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sleeping with wrist guards really does make a world of difference. And maybe there is some way to do the repetitive tasks in a more ergonomoc way? For example, I crocheted a couple of pieces for friends' weddings in quick succession out of very tiny yarn, and it destroyed my wrists for several weeks after. Turns out, I'd been holding my crochet hook in a really stress-inducing way; I had just never had a reason to question my form until it started causing a repetitive stress injury. By just changing the way I held the hook, I started to see improvement almost immediately.

[–] fracture@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

i actually dropped crochet because of the wrist issues (well, i got bored too, but still). do you happen to have a graphic of the different hand position you do for it? i dunno if i'll pick it back up, but i'm curious nonetheless

[–] deo@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I used to hold it in the pencil position, but now i use the knife position example photo here. The pencil position requires you to use more thumb/wrist muscles, but the knife position helps me keep my wrist straight and use my forearm muscles more.

[–] fracture@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

ohh thank you, i appreciate it!