Nurses: You’ve Been LIED to about your Back and Body Mechanics

Hello, nurses,I would just like to encourage everyone to share how their facility deals with the lifting issue, how your backs have suffered, and how you feel about being lied to. I know it enraged me, really. I will have a follow-up article coming out soon that will detail how to deal with a back problem that already exists, and I think it could help more nurses, too.I also want you to know that one of my sources, Dr. Gail Powell-Cope, has agreed to answer any questions you may have about safe lifting and moving. She's passionate about this subject and is well versed in the particulars. Feel free to ask her any questions.Thanks!Lynda

I disagree. I started nursing in my late 40s. I have had multiple orthopedic surgeries and I have been to chiropractors and massage therapists along with the traditional medicine doctors. Since becoming a nurse and being reminded about body mechanics (and I keep my back and core strong with yoga) I am more pain free than ever. I am very aware and I am in better shape, physically than nurses half my age.

If you had mechanical lifts when you started nursing, you wouldn't have had back pain that continued into your career. You wouldn't have needed to see a chiropractor or a physical therapist at all if your lifting was safe. In addition, you admit that you have strong core strength which is not true of a large number of nurses. Usually, core issues are not addressed until after a back problem starts. I'm not saying all back pain ends in surgery. I'm saying nurses will have back pain because body mechanics have been proven not to work.

i have only been a nurse for 3 years. Before that, I worked with horses, which is how I got hurt so much. No teaching of body mechanics in that career! I am saying that NOW that I am a nurse, I am much more aware because of policies in place to keep me healthier. Nursing has done that for me as opposed to what the horse business did to me.

For mmc51264. What policies specifically do you find helpful in preventing patient handling related musculoskeletal injuries?

I think the tone of the article is a little, umm, overheated. It's a pretty strong statement to say that administrators have "LIED" to nurses all these years. I don't recall any administrator ever making any overinflated promises to me about using proper body mechanics. What I recall being told in school and by every hospital for which I've worked over the years is that using proper body mechanics is safer for my back and joints than lifting any old crazy way I might feel like doing, not offering me any sort of guarantee that I would never get hurt if I used correct body mechanics. Who doesn't recognize that you are putting your back and joints at risk by lifting, pulling, and shoving heavy people around??

The big hospital system where I'm credentialed has a 24/7 lift team. They have multiple teams in fact and even though this hospital has 900 beds, there is very little waiting for lifting assistance. This facility has gone to a "no lift" policy. Staff that choose not to use the lift team for whatever reason can face disciplinary action. While I don't endorse a punitive approach, I think the lift team reduces back injuries.

I feel like we've been lied to. Were we told that body mechanics is only useful to 35 pounds? Were we told that the back breaks down after years of lifting even if you use proper body mechanics? How is it better that you use body mechanics to stave off a back injury for a few years? Why didn't they tell us that mechanical lifts are the only way to be 100 percent safe? The research is out there. Body mechanics have been proven by the CDC, the VA, and the ANA to be outdated, unhelpful, and unsafe. And yet, this is still the norm in every hospital and nursing program. How is it not a lie? Why are the numbers of nurses with back problems higher than all professions? Why are nurses hurt more than factory workers? Do you think they move car parts by pulling on a blanket and tensing their stomachs? Nurses shouldn't be lifting heavy people. Period. And the reason we still do is because no one wants to pay to protect our health.

Dr. Powell-Cope, what is your opinion of lift team? I know Dr. Collins was scornful of them, but I don't think I had the chance to ask you that question.

Having just learned last night that one of our best nurses, who is an older lady that can poorly handle such a thing, got a terrible back injury trying to move a 300 pound patient, this feels timely.

What exactly is a lift team? I've never heard of that before.

At my facility, we use blue plastic "liners" to put under pts to slide them, which is like greasing the bed. We have lifts, we call for assistance when we need to move someone and there is usually a minimum of 4-5 people when moving person from bed to stretcher (or vice versa) we have a minimum of 2 people to change/clean an incontinent person or linens. I work on an ortho unit where pt safety is a must and teh safest way to move an ortho pt is with multiple people, we work as a team with OT/PT as well. We are lucky that it is the culture of our unit that no one tries to do anything alone. We move the beds to proper heights. Our veteran nurses are great role models in that they know the policies and don't allow the newer nurses to take chances. It is just the way we do things.