Can handbags and shoulder bags cause back pain? No doubt about it! She may be smiling now, but when the young woman in the picture gets home she’ll find her shoulder is killing her, and in a few months time it’ll be her lower back. Here’s why…
Most of us aren’t built to carry loads
Are you a shire horse? No. Do you need to carry heavy loads for a living? No? Well, if noone is paying you to carry half the contents of your house around on your shoulder, why do it? Carrying heavy loads on your shoulder (or in your hand) is akin to the fetching and carrying that our grandmother’s grandmothers would have done – “Jack and Jill went up the hill, To fetch a pail of water”, and look how that ended!
Lighten the load
Unless you’re fortunate enough to have “paid help” (and public liability insurance) to follow you around, get rid of some of that stuff!
Get a “fashionable” rucksack
One of my patients just last week bought herself a lovely faux-leather rucksack to replace the monstrous shoulder bag she’d been lugging around. I was very proud of her, stepping outside her fashion comfort-zone. And what a result – it’s made an immediate difference to her shoulder pain. I am no fashionista (my wife and kids will confirm this), but I’m reliably informed that it is possible to find rucksacks that won’t make you look like you had a bang to the head that’s made you believe you’re a schoolgirl again. Check out the pic…
Wear it on both shoulders
There’s no point having two shoulder straps, but only using one; that’s like being born with two legs, but choosing to hop everywhere – very Monty Python. Your body can only put up with that kind of treatment for so long!
Get checked out
We’ve been doing more and more digital postural assessments lately, and finding that lots of you are lop-sided. This makes carrying anything a little bit more hazardous, as you’re already distributing the load badly. A bit of postural re-education and appropriate exercises can make a huge difference.
