Now that millions of people are working from the comforts of home, you might be forgiven for thinking that workplace injuries and accidents are going down. While it’s true that industrial accidents and other workplace mishaps are harder to come across in the era of social distancing, there are many perils associated with working from home that few people truly understand. There are reasons to believe that workers who have been forced to suddenly change their work habits are suffering from soft-tissue injuries across the UK, for instance, which can diminish their personal health and productivity alike. Follow this review of soft-tissue injury prevention, and the UK workforce will be all the better for it.
What is a soft-tissue injury?
Not many people are intimately familiar with the ins and outs of a soft-tissue injury. According to information provided by Oxford University Hospitals, a soft-tissue injury can be described as “injuries to the soft tissues in the body, rather than the harder bones.” Even still, that may not clear it up for everyone. What exactly is a soft-tissue? Provided examples of soft-tissue injuries include muscle contusions, sprains, and perhaps above all else, bruises. When the small blood vessels in your body are stressed, they can bleed internally, creating the discolored skin that we commonly recognize as “bruises.” Soft-tissue injuries may not sound like the end of the world compared to breaking a bone or being hospitalized, but the truth of the matter is that they can have long-term impacts on your mobility. In the short-term, they can make you physically uncomfortable and thwart your workplace productivity, which is dangerous in an era of economic decline when many fear losing their income. This is why businesses across the UK should be coming together to mitigate and prevent soft-tissue injuries wherever possible. Besides familiarising yourself with the common causes of workplace accidents, you should also study up on how to avoid soft-tissue damage when working from home. This is because soft-tissue injuries which you sustain while working from home could be far different than those which you are susceptible to in a normal office or other work environment. Sitting down on the couch all day without stretching, for instance, can actually have long-term impacts on your mobility, damage your small blood vessels, and lead to soft-tissue injuries.
Keeping yourself safe
Luckily, soft-tissue injuries can be avoided with regular exercise and even basic stretching activities. Avoiding sprains and strains may entail you to set aside 15 minutes each day to stretch. If you’ve been sitting at your desk for more than an hour, get up to get a drink of water, stretch your legs, and ensure your smaller blood vessels aren’t undergoing too much stress. Elevating what injuries you do sustain will help you get back on your feet sooner, and using cold ice-packs on bruises or sprains can deliver soothing relief. Remember to never apply ice directly to the skin for long, but to instead keep a tissue or cloth between the two. If the entire UK workforce focuses on soft-tissue injury prevention, our national workforce will remain resilient in these trying times.
