New research commissioned by the British Chiropractic Association suggests that back and neck pain prevents a significant percentage of parents from picking up or carrying their children while other report problems carrying car seats and difficulty playing with their children because of pain.

Follow these Rules for a Healthier Back

In order to maintain a healthy back while parenting young children, the British Chiropractic Association urges parents to follow some common sense rules. For example, carry a baby as close to your center of gravity as possible, such as in a sling, papoose, or other style of carrier. Support straps that cross at the back are better for distributing the child’s weight.

Buy a stroller that has adjustable height settings so it can be moved to accommodate the height of whoever is pushing it so proper posture is maintained: walking upright with a straight spine with the hands resting at a comfortable height.

Minimize bending over when playing with children by getting down to their level. That said, when kneeling be mindful to keep your back straight instead of hunching over. Also, kneeling for extended periods can put undue pressure on the joint so mix it up. Similarly, when picking up toys or otherwise cleaning up, don’t bend over at the waist; squat.

Be Careful of How You Pick Up Your Child

Chiropractor Kevin Loughlin observes, “As a parent myself, I understand how easy it is to put a strain on your back when looking after young children, as you are constantly carrying them from A to B, bending down to pick up their toys and generally attending to them. For this reason, it is important to ensure that you are not damaging your back in the process, and the BCA’s advice is valuable in showing that you can look after your health at the same time as looking after your children.”

As your baby becomes a toddler, picking them up and carrying them around becomes more strenuous. Chiropractors strongly urge parents to encourage toddlers to be as self-sufficient as age appropriate. For example, older toddlers can climb into a car seat rather than the parent picking them up and placing them in it. Fostering such activity is good for the child’s development and for keeping the parent’s back strong and healthy.

If you’re unsure of how to safely pick-up your child, be sure to do a few internet searches, maybe even watching a video or two on the topic, to ensure you’re back is properly maintained and is kept healthy.

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My name is Carrie and I like to spend time writing about parenting issues, including where to locate child chiropractors in Arizona, how to prevent injury when picking-up children, and ways to treat sleep issues.

Undergoing surgery can often be a stressful experience. The preparations beforehand, time sedated, and recovery period can all be daunting to deal with, even in the case of successful and straightforward operations. Because of these built-in aggravators, it would seem rational for hospitals to do everything they could to make sure surgeries were routine and complication-free. Yet many hospitals have been slow to implement safety measures aimed at reducing so-called “never events.”

What are “Never Events?”

The term “never events” was first coined in 2001. Simply put, “never events” are events which never ought to take place in the course of a medical procedure. By definition, their occurrence represents a failure in judgment or execution which is at odds with the rigorous precision associated with surgical operation and other training-intensive tasks. Yet despite their name, never events do in fact happen, and with a degree of regularity which may be cause for alarm.

Retained Surgical Items: For Patients, an Unexpected Souvenir

Each year, approximately 32 million surgical procedures are performed. And every year, approximately 4,000 surgical sponges are mistakenly left inside of patients. This amounts to approximately 11 retained sponges a day. As such, retained surgical items account for close to half of all surgical never events.

Retained objects aren’t good for anyone. They’re certainly not good for the patient, who suffers a heightened risk of infection and other complications as a result of their own personal never event. They’re also quite bad for the offending hospital – both financially and in terms of their reputation. Hospitalizations resulting from retained objects cost on average approximately $60,000 per case. But malpractice suits can cost the hospital an additional $100,000 to $200,000.

The Way Forward for Hospitals

At present, only 15 percent of hospitals use surgical sponges that are equipped with electronic tracking devices. The rationale behind this low number is that many hospitals are already dealing with budget issues and don’t feel that they have money to spend on such safety measures. Yet it only costs about $8 dollars per surgery to implement sponge tracking technology, and this practice has been shown to provide real gains in safety. At three hospitals in Indianapolis, sponges were being lost about once a month on average. After implementing electronic tracking, these three hospitals have gone five years without a single case of a retained sponge. Furthermore, they have reported several instances in which the tracking technology has helped to evade close calls.

Comparatively, traditional instrument counting is very hit-or-miss. This involves counting all instruments and sponges that have been used over the course of an operation to make sure that they are accounted for. Yet, such practices have only been shown to be effective about 77 percent of the time when checking for a lost object.

So it seems fairly clear – there may always be “never events,” but hospitals could be doing more to ensure there are progressively less of them.

Citations:

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Justin covers recent developments in both the healthcare and personal fitness industries. When not writing, Justin works full-time in medical billing services and practice management for emergency care centers.