Weight lifting|chronic pain

Weight lifting movements that can initiate chronic pain are the ones that are most injurious to the muscles that must perform lengthening contractions to stabilize the joint while the weight is lifted.
These weight lifting movements include overhead lifting and lifting while reaching out. These reaching motions are very injurious to the muscles close to the spine and at the back of the body since these muscles have to work harder to generate the force needed to lift whatever weight you carry in your hands.
The muscles at the back of the body especially those muscles close to the spine have to generate forces strong enough to stabilize the spine while the weightlifting is performed by the shortening contraction of the powerful muscles in the front of the body. The heavier the weight that needs to be lifted, the more stressed are the muscles at the back of the body because they have to generate stronger forces to balance the forces generated by the muscles at the front of the body and thus stablize the joints.
Also, the further away the weight to be lifted is from the trunk, the forces that these muscles at the back of the body have to generate is equivalent to the weight of the object multiplied by the length of your arm. Therefore even if you think you are lifting only two pounds, the forces that the muscles close to the spine have to generate is two pounds multiplied by the length of the upper limb.
To avoid injuries, avoid overhead weight lifting as much as possible and lift as little weight at a time as possible. If you have to carry something in front of you, bring the weight as close as possible to your body.
Lift using both upper limbs with the elbows bent while keeping them close to the side of your trunk. Remember to keep the knees bent and the trunk straight while lifting.While carrying, keep the weight close to your chest and the elbows close to your trunk.
People who are in pain or discomfort already can exacerbate the symptoms with improper lifting techniques. Parents are commonly injured while lifting babies or young children overhead for play. Lifting children in and out of car seats is difficult to avoid. As soon as the child can walk, you must stop lifting and be as creative as you can be so that the lifting episodes can be avoided to prevent you from getting injured.
For example, getting a child into the car seat can be broken down into many steps. If you place a step stool first on the ground and you can facilitate the child to get into the car without having to lift. You can then place the step stool on the floor of the car, then the child can step onto it while you support his back and buttocks and he can be made to crawl into the car seat. Similarly, you can reverse the steps to allow the child to crawl out of the car seat.You must always keep your spine as straight as possible,your hips and knees slightly bent and your elbows kept at the side of your trunk to have proper mechanics while weightlifting or in picking up any thing at ground level.
All weights and heavy objects should be positioned at waist level and be brought as close as possible to the body before lifting.
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