Standing is part of the job for many women in Canada. Being on your feet most of the day is a familiar story for cashiers, bank tellers, restaurant servers, mail sorters, assembly line workers, health care workers and retail salespeople.
The effects of standing all day can show up almost right away. Prolonged standing and walking causes or makes worse health problems and soft tissue injuries including:
Recent studies also show regular standing may:
Like many work-related hazards, standing usually is designed into a job. The physical layout or work practices of a task may force women into awkward positions to reach across wide surfaces or do things repetitively without breaks. Standing is worse when you can't move around much, or when you work on hard surfaces and/or wear unsuitable footwear.
Muscles work to hold you upright. After a woman is standing in one position or walking for a while, her muscles need a rest. Otherwise, joints from the neck to the feet can become temporarily "stuck." When this happens regularly, muscles get tired and their tendons and ligaments can be damaged, causing soft tissue injuries.
Standing still also reduces blood flow to muscles and stops the "muscle pump" (regular muscle movements) that returns blood from the feet and legs to the heart. Other body fluids won't move unless leg muscles contract. When blood or other fluids don't move properly, veins get inflamed and/or feet, ankles and legs swell and muscles start to ache. This is a particular problem for pregnant women. They may also get less blood to the uterus when there is less blood returning to the heart in the leg veins.
Our feet are essential for standing. The arches of our feet are shock absorbers. When these absorbers stop working (from overuse, poor position or flat feet), joints in our legs and backbone have to deal with the impacts of standing, walking, running or jumping. Tissues related to those joints then can become inflamed, tired or more vulnerable to injury.
Therefore, footwear is important. Women are expected to wear "heels" in many jobs. But heels more than 5 cm (2 inches) high can force the body forward and the buttocks back. To keep their balance, women have to tense up and lean slightly back. This can cause shortened calf muscles, knee and back problems and increased chances of falling.
By law, employers must provide healthy and safe work for everyone in their workplace. They are in the best position to make necessary changes to prevent injuries. But sometimes individual workers and/or their unions must argue for preventive ergonomic solutions. These include:
For the rising number of women who are self-employed, the responsibility rests on the women themselves to set up their working environment to avoid work-related injuries.
Things you can do on your own include:
Revised June 2006.
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