Moving, moving, moving reduces workplace injuries, illnesses

More and more jobs in Charlotte require you to do what you’re likely doing right now: sit at a desk and read from a computer. Researchers say our increasingly sedentary lifestyle is causing us health problems that include the frequency of work-related injuries and illnesses.

A recent article in a business insurance publication urges employers to get their workers to move more and to adopt good posture when they sit. Both of these goals can be achieved by implementing some low-cost changes to the workplace, PropertyCasualty360.com states.

Of course, if workers are healthier, employers and insurers are wealthier. Health care costs and workers’ compensation expenses both drop when there are fewer job-related injuries.

A couple of years ago, a Mayo Clinic doctor captured public attention when he said, “Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV, and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death.”

What he was really pointing out was the danger of a sedentary lifestyle. Sitting hour after hour, day after day can lead directly to a wide variety of medical problems.

A sedentary lifestyle causes decreased mobility, which causes muscle weakness and contributes to problems such as back pain, said an executive for a company that goes to worksites to give physical therapy to workers and implement worker injury prevention programs.

The sedentary life is also linked to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression, digestion problems and a decline in mental acuity, too.

If you have had a North Carolina workers’ compensation claim denied, you can appeal with the help of a qualified Charlotte work comp lawyer.