What this means for American businesses is that for the next 20 to 25 years our older citizens will comprise an increasingly larger percentage of our workforce. With this impending shift in worker demographics comes a progressively increasing challenge to preventing work place injuries and containing their costs. Simply stated, more will need to be done to accommodate older workers as their declining physical capabilities fail to keep pace with the physical demands of their jobs, and productivity requirements of their employers.

As workers age, numerous changes that occur that can ultimately impact their safety in the work place. Among them are:

Physical Strength

A decrease in muscle mass and speed with which muscles contract is a typical effect of aging that impacts workers’ capacity to tolerate physical tasks safely. Per a 1981 study published in Clinical Physiology, physical strength in people age 50 to 60 is only 75% to 85% of that in people 25 to 35 years old.

Flexibility

Aging workers experience decreases in muscle and joint flexibility. A study published in a 1987 issue of Exercise Physiology reported that “sit-and-reach” flexibility test scores were 18% to 20% poorer in people of retirement age compared to younger adults. Poor flexibility results in decreased muscle strength, joint motion, coordination, reaction times, and balance. Poor flexibility further compromises workers’ ability to perform job tasks safely.

Balance

Another effect of aging is decreased balance. Balance problems can be a function of inner ear disturbances but as was previously stated, these problems are often the result of poor strength, joint range of motion and flexibility.

Pain

Be it in an office environment or manufacturing facility, the physical stresses of workers’ jobs tend to remain at a constant over the span of their careers. However, as employees age their physical tolerances for those same stresses tend to decline. When a job’s physical stresses exceed a worker’s tolerance for them, the result is often pain, if not injury. It is often the case that when employees are in pain, employers’ options are limited to having them continue working in pain, or to open a workers compensation claim.

Employee Maintenance and the Aging Workforce

In the next two decades businesses will be faced with increasing challenges relating to maintaining the health of, and preventing injuries in our aging workforce. In a tightened economy these challenges will be compounded by the increasing necessity for companies to become “lean” and maximize productivity utilizing older employees. How will older workers be kept fit for duty such that their strength, flexibility and endurance levels are sufficient for performing their jobs safely, while maintaining productivity standards? Additionally, as healthcare reform and the recently foreshadowed stricter OSHA enforcement are rolled out, prevention will have to become an area of increased focus for companies to remain competitive and to meet compliance requirements.

Employee maintenance and, more specifically, at-the-jobsite Employee Maintenance Centers are proven prevention solutions. InjuryFree is the leader in workplace risk reduction and has the answers companies will seek as they soon begin to experience the impact of an aging workforce.

To see how the Employee Maintenance Centers can help your aging workforce while demonstrating returnable savings, sign up for a complimentary Cost Benefit Analysis, or read Employee Maintenance, Bio-Physics and Early Symptom Recognition for additional information and demonstrated results.

Here are two of the most effective ab exercises you can do:

Bicycle

Lie on your back on the floor with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Lift your head slightly off the floor, and clasp your hands behind your head. Now bring both bent knees up to your chest.  Keeping your lower back pressed into the floor, now extend your right leg, and try to touch your right elbow to your left knee. Now switch:  extend your left leg, bend your right knee up toward your chest, and try to touch your left elbow to your right knee. Keep alternating. Repeat 15 times on each side. This is one set. Try to do three sets. If you can’t, don’t worry; just slowly work up to three sets over the course of two or three weeks. This exercise works all abdominal muscles.

Don’t twist your neck when you’re trying to touch each elbow to the opposite knee; simply gently move your torso from one side to the other.  Also, don’t lift with your neck, lift with your abs.  Your hands are simply cradling your head to reduce neck strain. Also be sure to keep your lower back pressing into the floor to prevent lower back strain.  Don’t place your extended leg so close to the floor that it creates an arch in the lower back.

Captain’s Chair

Sit up straight in a plain chair, feet flat on the floor. Hold onto the sides of the seat with each hand. Keeping your knees together, slowly lift your feet off the floor, and bring your knees to your chest. Hold for two seconds, then lower your feet back to the floor. Repeat 15 times for one set. Try to do three sets. This exercise works all abdominal muscles. To take it to the next level for a super challenge, press downward on your hands to lift your bottom off the seat while lifting and lowering your legs!

When doing abdominal exercises, it’s very important to not pull on your neck with your hands. If you have trouble not pulling your neck, move your hands to lightly cradle your ears. You should also move slowly rather than rapidly, as slow movements engage more muscles. It is not necessary to do more than three sets of a given exercise, but it’s always fine to add to the variety of different exercises that you do to challenge your muscles.

Abdominal exercises are a great way to wake up in the morning. And they offer more physical safety benefits than a nerve-jangling cup of java!

No matter what your job, the daily, repetitive movements of your neck, arms and hands could lead to serious pain problems. This area of your body moves as a unit, and taking steps to avoid fatigue in these muscles can prevent chronic discomfort and costly injuries.

Most jobs require the head, arms and hands to perform repeated work tasks for hours a day, and the sustained work of holding those postures puts pressure on muscles, tendons and joints in this part of the body. Add to that the repetitive tasks your arms and hands are performing—be it keyboarding or paperwork or manufacturing activities—and these parts of the body can gradually wear out.

The forward head posture can cause neck and arm pain. The head itself is actually about ten percent of your body weight, and sitting or standing at your station working with your hands at any task causes your upper back to gradually round over and your shoulders to droop. Because this posture increases the work load on your neck by about 300 percent, it is easy to see how this can lead to problems.

Specific jobs stress specific body areas. For construction workers, painters and manufacturing employees, prolonged standing, shoulder stresses and gripping or pinching can strain certain zones, damaging tendons and nerves. Shoulders become tense after repeated reaching or holding an unnatural position for long periods of time. Wrists develop sensitivities after gripping or pinching tools or small items over and over. Take care to make changes in your work environment to avoid these problems.

For workers who use gripping tools, the grip diameter should match the diameter of your index finger tip placed on your thumb tip. A bit of friction tape on the grip surface will make a surface less slippery and easier to grip. Wearing gloves and applying padding will also reduce vibrations and make gripping easier. The design of the tool should keep your wrist in a neutral position during work, and the tool should not be too heavy. Rest frequently during prolonged gripping.

All workers will benefit from switching from one work task to another every hour or so. Also, combining both sitting and standing in a work day helps eliminate stress to the neck, shoulders and lower back. Stretching frequently is also essential. One effective position for resting following a day’s work is to lie on your back on a firm padded surface, such as a rug, with your legs bent at a ninety degree angle at both the hips and knees, with the knees resting on the seat of a chair or sofa.

Sources: Herbert, Lauren, The Industrial Athlete, IMPACC USA

In the National Football League, injuries come with the territory. So in order to keep the players in top physical condition and on the field, teams employ professional trainers, physical therapists and state of-the-art fitness equipment. Workers in industrial plants and manufacturing facilities have demanding jobs of their own…Click Continue Reading the Article