The Beat Down of Servers
We have all been to restaurants and seen servers of all sizes carry huge trays of food. I remember when I was a server, the trays were very heavy and of course, your customers were in a hurry to get their food. You are literally walking as fast as you can with your neck leaning to one side, tray resting on your shoulder and your hands were holding on for dear life as to not drop the tray. Any time I was in a hurry, there was always somebody walking slowly in my way. This can be very stressful and many servers that I work on are suffering from back pain, neck and shoulder pain, and wrist pain. The pay is rarely good and the hours are hard but that is the life of a server.
Working in a restaurant is very hard on the body and the mind, but There are things you can do to prepare your body for the job at hand. Servers have to be aware of how they are damaging their bodies. Resting a large tray of food on one shoulder forces the spine to curve opposite of the tray. This curve runs from the pelvis to the head. There are muscles on each side of the pelvis that balances the pelvic area and stabilizes the body. There are muscles between the ribs that prevent the rib cage from collapsing and finally the muscles in the shoulders and chest are supporting the weight of the tray. Just this movement can cause low back pain, mid back pain, and neck pain all at the same time. You can experience difficulty in breathing due to the muscles tightening and they can tighten to a point that a rib can become dislocated. In the neck area, you may experience headaches, issues with a jaw, or a stiff neck in the morning that can last for days. The hands are gripping the tray to make sure it doesn't fall. This can cause carpal tunnel, elbow tendinitis, and stiff fingers. The weight and quick movements can cause your feet to hurt, knees and hips to hurt as well. As you can see we need to properly prepare before a server goes to work, but unfortunately most do not.
As an employer, this will cost you lost work time, high turnover rates and can raise insurance rates, if you offer them. More importantly, having employees in pain causes unhappy employees which can mean unhappy customers. This can be resolved without expensive plans, equipment, or monthly fees to a gym. Using the Stretch n' Release technique teaches people how to identify what is wrong and how to fix it in their home.
Let's start with low back pain. Most low pain back is caused by the quads, the front of your thighs, shortening and pulling the pelvis forward. This pulling will cause compression on the lower spine which can lead to bulging or herniated discs or pinched nerves. Feet can hurt because of the shoes you wear. Arch supports, heel supports, and pointy toed shoes can cause many problems with the feet. The calf muscles control so much of what happens with your feet.Unfortunately 99% of people on the planet have never stretched their calves properly. Leaning against a wall, stepping on a slant board, or on a curb does not stretch the calf muscles. only the Achilles Tendon. There are 4 muscles in the calf area that create supination, pronation, and the flexibility of the ankle. These are not shoe issues, but calf issues.
Wrist problems, elbow tendinitis, and general fatigue in the hands are due to the overuse of the forearm muscles. You have 26 muscles from the elbow to the tips of your finger. No brace or gadget is going to release these muscles. Learning to soften the muscles and then lengthening the muscles will quickly solve the pain.,
What makes us different is how we look at the human body. The muscles are more emotional than they are physical. You cannot stretch a muscle by just brute force. the brain will fight with you. Gadget won't work either as the brain will just fight with them. Once you learn how to release the muscles with the brain, stretching becomes easy. Stretching is really more like eating than working out, although stretching is always combined with the workout. Think about this, if you eat breakfast at 8 am and don't eat for the rest of the day, you will be hungry at 8 pm, right? You know why this is happening. Once you eat the food, the body digest it, and calories are burned, immediately. Stretching works the same. If you stretch at 8 am and don't stretch the rest of the day, by 8 pm you are tight again. Like a dog or cat, you need to learn how to stretch for 5-10 minutes at a time, 3 or 4 times a day. We teach people how to stay flexible without interrupting their day.We show you how to live more pain free, not once in a while, but for the rest of your life. I have videos on YouTube at, The Muscle repair Shop, on my website, www.musclerepairshop.com, you can contact me for our videos of individualized sessions, or I teach workshops all over the country that help companies sick time and health costs by helping their employees use the Stretch n' Release technique.
Living pain free is a choice, not a wish. Too many people believe that their age has a lot to do with their pain, or their job, or just bad luck, truthfully, it is lack of preparation. The sad truth is, we are never told how to prepare ourselves.