How to Prevent Nurse Back Pain at Your Facility: 5 Tips
Nurses are highly vulnerable to injuries because of care tasks that require frequent bending and lifting. Particularly when it comes to nurses and back pain, statistics speak volumes. Up to 90% of nurses report complaints of back pain, with roughly 70% experiencing recurring symptoms. Since there are so many physical demands of the job, it’s important for facilities to take the initiative to help prevent nurse back pain.
If you’re a facility leader concerned about the frequency of back injuries in healthcare workers, you may be seeking ways to better support your staff. In this article, we answer frequently asked questions pertaining to nurse back pain and provide five practical strategies that you can implement to build a safer, more ergonomic work environment for your nurses.
What Causes Nurse Back Pain?
Nursing can be a very physical job, often requiring the repositioning, transferring, and moving of patients who have limited mobility. When these tasks are carried out repeatedly or in an unsafe manner, this can cause muscle straining and lead to nurse back injury or pain.
You may be wondering, which nursing tasks and activities place healthcare staff at the highest risk for back injuries? Below, we list the top five common causes of low back pain in nurses.
When nursing duties are coupled with long working hours, overtime, and minimal rest breaks or support, nurses are at even higher risk of experiencing long-term disability.
What Are the Red Flags for Back Pain?
An occasional backache isn’t uncommon, especially for nurses working in physically demanding conditions. However, there are certain symptoms that, when coupled with prolonged or severe nurse back pain, are more concerning and should be discussed with a medical provider. The following red flags could indicate that back pain from nursing may turn into a more serious problem without prompt intervention:
- Fever
- Urinary or fecal incontinence
- Unexplained weight loss
- Lower limb numbness and tingling
- History of cancer
How Can Nurses Manage Back Pain?
While preventing nurse back pain from happening in the first place should be a priority, it isn’t always avoidable. What are some ways to manage back pain from nursing after a long shift or challenging assignment? The following table lists ways that nurses can minimize back pain and get back to full health, whether it’s on the job or on days off.
| At Work | On Days Off |
|---|---|
| Take regular breaks for stretching and meals. | Complete routine light exercise (swimming, yoga, walking, tai-chi, etc.). |
| Change positions frequently. | Use a heating pad or ice pack over sore areas. |
| Find a quiet space to rest and relax. | Work toward achieving a healthy sleep pattern, focusing on quality and duration. |
Why Should Facilities Prioritize Back Pain Prevention Measures?
Nurse back pain can lead to many unwanted consequences for staff and facilities. Back pain can be debilitating in a nursing professional’s day-to-day life, impacting things like sleep and the ability to enjoy activities outside of work. This can worsen a nurse’s overall quality of life and contribute to feelings of frustration toward their jobs.
For facilities, this can worsen workflow efficiency, increase work absences due to injuries, and contribute to burnout, leading to higher staff turnover. It’s important for facilities to prioritize back pain prevention since there are many job-related factors that cause these rippling issues.
5 Tips to Help Prevent Nurse Back Pain
Back pain prevention requires a multifaceted approach to enhance the safety of the physical environment. Follow these five tips to better support your nursing staff in their everyday work.
1. Conduct an Ergonomic Evaluation
An ergonomic assessment is a great way to inform measures needed to make the physical workplace more nurse-friendly. This involves identifying and understanding what risk factors in the environment should be removed to prevent staff-related injuries. To conduct an ergonomic evaluation, you can:
- Assess what types of jobs and tasks exceed the limitations of your staff.
- Review regulatory requirements and policies needed to create a safe physical space.
- Evaluate any devices in the environment that help or hinder job duties.
2. Provide Manual Handling Training
When it comes to heavy lifting, movements can be carried out to minimize the risk of muscle injury. It’s important to train nurses on these techniques to ensure they’re handling patient transfers in the safest manner possible.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides a number of resources and toolkits that facilities can use to implement evidence-based manual handling education for staff. Offering this safe patient handling training upon hire and annually thereafter can significantly reduce the incidence of staff injury.
3. Supply Patient Transfer Devices
Another way to provide back support for nurses is to adopt or install patient transfer devices designed to relieve pressure and friction during heavy lifting. There are a number of devices that have been created to assist nurses in moving patients, including:
- Mechanical full-body lifts (mobile or ceiling-mounted).
- Powered sit-to-stand lifts.
- Friction-reducing devices, such as roll boards.
- Transfer belts that can be placed around patients.
It’s important to distinguish these patient transfer devices from transfer belts that are made to be worn by nurses. Nurse-worn belts aren’t recommended by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), since there’s not a lot of research on safe or effective usage.
A back brace for nurses, however, can be helpful for preventing pain in those with a previous back injury or recent traumatic accident. Be sure to consult with a doctor when deciding whether wearing a back brace is appropriate for your unique condition.
4. Hire a Lifting Team
If there are units in your facility where back injuries are occurring more frequently than usual, consider hiring a designated team of staff members who are trained and equipped to aid with patient lifting. Studies have shown that using a designated team of lifters not only reduces the risk of recurring back pain and injury among nurses, but also increases satisfaction among staff and patients.
5. Support a Healthy Work-Life Balance
Since working longer hours and stress can also worsen and/or increase the risk of back pain, it’s important to support work-life balance among your nursing staff. Implement these strategies to promote self-care and improve the wellbeing of your nurses:
- Ensure units are adequately staffed to prevent overtime.
- Assign reasonable patient loads to help prevent burnout.
- Utilize float pool staff instead of calling nurses in on their days off.
- Foster and maintain a healthy work environment.
Discover More Ways to Build a Safer Workplace for Your Staff
Implementing measures to prevent nurse back pain is one of many ways to support your staff. Don’t miss out on IntelyCare’s other free management tips and guides that are designed to help you foster a safe and positive work environment.