Life skills I ought to have learned earlier

[luzula]

Poll #33879 Proper lifting technique

This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 44

Did you, or did you not, learn the proper technique for how to lift heavy objects with minimal injury/strain in school?

View Answers

Yes
10 (23.3%)

No
33 (76.7%)

When in life did you learn this?

View Answers

0-20 years old
20 (45.5%)

20-40 years old
12 (27.3%)

40-60 years old
0 (0.0%)

60-80 years old
0 (0.0%)

80-100 years old
0 (0.0%)

I still don't know it
4 (9.1%)

I might know it, but I'm not sure if I'm doing it right?
11 (25.0%)

I did not learn it in school. When I check the current PE curriculum, it sure looks like it's included. So either 1) it was not in the curriculum when I was in school, or 2) it was in the curriculum but my teacher did not cover it, or 3) they covered it but I did not learn it. I've known for a long time that you should not lift by bending your back and done my best to avoid this, but I only learned now that this is not all there is to it! You should not lift with your knees. You should lift by keeping your back and stomach braced and your spine straight (but hinged forward) and lift mainly with your butt (your knees can also bend if they need to, but the main bending should be at your hips). I am practicing it now, but it takes time to ingrain something like that.

I also did not learn, and am only beginning to learn now at the age of 47, the proper position/technique for doing common workout things like pushups, squats, etc. *facepalm* How can you go so long without learning such things, and without realizing that there is indeed a hole in your knowledge??

Comments

[sanguinity]

Here, proper lifting technique is mostly taught by workplaces, and most specifically ones that have had a history of back injuries among their employees. So a large proportion of physically active jobs, but also desk jobs that see the occasional banker box or box of copy paper.

And yup, people have to be taught the proper postures for calisthenics or weight lifting. Sometimes that's taught in school (or I assume the military), but a lot of people learn it as adults at the gym from trainers/instructors, or sometimes books/videos.

:: How can you go so long without learning such things, and without realizing that there is indeed a hole in your knowledge?? ::

The second answers the first, and the second is one of the hard epistemological problems. How much easier our lives would be, if we had a comprehensive list of what we didn't know, and an accurate estimate of each item's utility! There's things you can do to make it easier to discover (some) things you don't know, but honestly? We're just all scrabbling around in the dark here.

I hope this line of questioning wasn't triggered by a back injury? That's what I assumed when I saw the poll.

[luzula]

I never learnt it on the job, either. My first workplace (a restaurant) would have done well to teach it, but didn't. And then I've mostly had non-physical jobs. Or wait, that's not true, I've also had a physical university job (field work).

Another example of this sort of thing is that the teaching program at my university does not teach proper voice technique! You'd think they could have at least one lecture by a speech therapist, but nothing.

A hard epistemological problem, indeed! : / In general I have been learning so much I didn't know (including some things that I didn't know that I didn't know) since I got my farm! But I'm sure I still have many unknown gaps of things that I would have appreciated knowing, if I knew it was there to know. At least I will make sure my nieces learn how to lift.

No back injury as such, no. But I have had some other wake-up calls, various minor strains and injuries which are currently making me stiff, and which have made me realize that I need to learn better technique, be more mindful of what I do, and work more purposefully in order to gain strength and mobility (or at least try to lose less of them as I age).

[sanguinity]

Boo on the injuries, but I'm glad none of them are major. Yes, better to learn technique now, before any of that gets worse!