By Charlene Riegger
Director of Marketing

Do you spend your days making repetitive motions such as grasping tools or instruments, typing, or constant lifting? On September 22, at the opening Maimonides Society Brunch and Learn of the Jewish Federation’s new campaign year, physical therapist Suparna Damany gave valuable insight into what you can do to help your body cope. Damany specializes in the treatment of chronic pain and musculoskeletal disorders.

The event centered around stretching and trying to undo or at least mitigate the problems caused by repetitive motion. Damany suggested that you create a “health account” and to think of it like a bank account. Each time you stretch or do exercise, you make a deposit in your body’s health account. The more you have in your account, the better it will be for you when you have no choice to do repetitive motion or are not able to work in an ergonomically-friendly way, which is like making a withdrawal from your account.

Damany talked about microtrauma, which you do not feel. The body tries to repair itself when you sleep or rest. However, microtraumas may build up over time, leading  to residual damage. This is why you may wake up one morning, for example, and say your wrist hurts, and you’re  surprised because you couldn’t hurt it during normal sleep. The damage built up over time finally resulted in pain. Nerves only have a few millimeters of give and will become damaged when overstressed. Increasing oxygen and blood flow to the areas of concern will help the trauma and eventually help your body to heal.

Damany also spoke about computer work and creating an ergonomic computer work station. Ideally, your computer monitor should be at eye level and your wrists should be slightly angled down for typing. If you are lifting your hands to type, this causes damage in the wrists and arms and goes all the way up to your neck. Sometimes carpal tunnel syndrome is the result of a poor work station, but it can be overdiagnosed. The trauma can often be mitigated by stretching exercises. See a few examples in the box to the right.

“Injury prevention doesn’t have to be time consuming,” Damany said. “Little bursts through the day help you to balance the scale.” Also, the stretching activities are not about intensity. Stretch enough that you feel it, but not until it hurts. You don’t want to overstretch and hurt yourself. Breathing is also important to increase oxygen to your body. In everyday breathing, people typically do not take deep breaths. Making sure you take deep breaths throughout the day that you can feel in your lower ribs helps supply the oxygen your body needs for nerve and muscle health.