The Centers for Disease Control says more than 50,000 people a year suffer from winter-related back injuries and almost 6,000 of those are from holiday decorating alone.
Dr. Kris Birkeland is in the business of fixing what's known as the "Santa spine."
'Tis the season to travel, decorate, and shop, but if you're not careful, you could pop a disc in your back.
“During the holidays, people have more time off and they're having more aches and pains,” said Dr. Birkeland.
Santa spine is basically not-so-careful habits exacerbated during the holidays.
“When you're traveling through the airport, you're probably under stress to get there on time. What we're recommending is that you carry your luggage across your body and that you're distributing the weight a little more evenly so you don't have that rotation that can cause irritation in your hips.”
Then there's package pain from heavy lifting.
“You want to lift with your legs and the key is to stabilize your spine so as you move down to pick it up, you want to keep your back straight, bend back your knees, and then base yourself and when you pick up, come straight up.”
Lastly, it’s important to stretch before and after you deck the halls.
“As you're bringing the tree in and as you're hanging the lights outside, loosen up those hamstrings, loosen up the hips. Take a small step forward, bend the other leg and then do a small sweep on both sides.”
If you've already fallen victim to Santa spine, Dr. Birkeland says it's a quick fix.
“The nice thing about coming to The Joint is people can pop in and pop out while doing holiday shopping.”
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