Hazards of Being a Teacher

In this blog post series, we will discuss some occupations that perform repetitive tasks day in and day out and some helpful exercises, posture adjustments, etc., to enhance your health. The following are occupations that will be covered in a series of writings: hair stylist, desk worker, and teacher. If there are other occupations that you know that you think would be beneficial to learn some tips on, let us know and we can write additional blog(s) on those occupation(s). This writing will address the occupation of a teacher and the hazards of being a teacher – from a PT point of view.

Teachers are on their feet for a good chunk of their workday, making footwear a critical part of their health. Footwear greatly impacts the health of our feet and the musculature of our lower legs in particular. A lot of footwear nowadays has narrow toe boxes, which over time do not do our feet and toes any good. Rather, you want footwear that has a wide toe box to give your toes plenty of room to spread out versus being crammed next to or on top of one another. One exercise for your feet is, while barefoot, either standing or sitting, spreading your toes out as wide as you can. Perform 2-3 sets of 15-20 repetitions. Another exercise to do is elevated calf raises so that on the downward phase, your heels go past neutral. Perform 2-3 sets of 20-25 repetitions.

Moving up to the low back, posture will impact how the back is doing and if it is causing problems or not. Day in and day out, posture has the power to make or break the low back. A tip to remember to help maintain good posture while standing (even while sitting) is to imagine like there is a string pulling up on your head. By doing this, it will help to maintain an erect posture so that your back is not in a rounded state for prolonged periods.

An exercise to get the back muscles active is Jefferson curls. The exercise consists of standing up tall and then rolling and bending your spine, starting with your head down to the ground in front of you. Similar to a Slinky. You want to try moving one vertebra at a time. This will work on your brain-body connection with your back muscles.  Perform in a pain-free range. You can start with body weight and work your way up to holding a weight in your hands. This is a slow exercise as it focuses on technique/muscle activation, so don’t rush to perform repetitions. Perform 2-3 sets of 5-10 reps.

Then, the upper back and neck are common areas for stress due to, but not limited to, writing on boards and/or leaning and reaching across a desk to show students tasks. As a result, shoulders are routinely in a rounded position anteriorly. If the shoulder is consistently in an anterior, rounded position, this increases the risk of nerve compression issues developing due to excess pressure from surrounding structures on the nerves that go through the shoulder joint. If you are experiencing numbness and/or tingling in your fingers intermittently, anteriorly placed shoulders could be the contributing factor causing the symptoms.

A stretch to help with this is to lie on your back on a foam roller that is in line with and under your spine and then spread your arms out to the side to make a “T.” Hang out in this position for 30-60 seconds, feeling the front of your shoulder/chest open up; repeat 2-4 times. A strengthening exercise is to lie on your stomach (with a pillow under your stomach and shins, and a towel rolled up under your forehead) and then get your arms in the “T” position again. Now, raise them a few inches off the ground. Body weight may be enough to challenge your muscles, but if it’s not, adding just a few pounds of weight in your hands has the potential to drastically increase the challenge. Perform 2-3 sets of 10-15 repetitions.  As for all exercises, perform in pain free range.

If you would like a more in-depth exercise regimen or posture assessment and helpful tips to improve your health, or if you have further questions about exercising tolerance, feel free to stop in at one of our Freedom Physical Therapy locations. We are located in Mukwonago, Brookfield, Grafton, and Fox Point. As always, Enjoy More Freedom!