Lower Back Injuries in the Workplace

Lower back injuries are one of the most common workplace injuries in Australia and accounts for about a third of ALL Workcover claims!

Whether it’s from active jobs such as a trade or mechanic or sedentary jobs such as an office worker, back pain is a major cause of lost workdays, reduced quality of life and costs the Australian economy billions annually due to treatment expenses, loss of productivity and missed work days.

While these injuries are common, they don’t have to keep you disabled and out of work.

Understanding why they happen, how to recover safely and what can be done to prevent them can make a significant difference in long-term health and function (hint, it’s not lifting with your knees!).

All around the world, we’re not taught to lift very well, for years there has been a massive focus on lifting with your knees and not bending your back, however this is just small jigsaw pieces of the entire puzzle. It is more to do with the low level repetitive loading that occurs over time.

A perfect example is a bricklayer, they’ll constantly lift and bend throughout the day, this happening over a period of hours, days and months, eventually leads to breakdown of the passive structures in the lower back (such as the discs) and eventual injury.

Another example is an office worker siting for hours and hours per day, similar to the bricklayer, being in prolonged static positions loads passive tissue and this occurring over a long period of time causes the same breakdown of the tissue.

In many cases, the real issue isn’t one single movement as many think, it’s the accumulation of small, inefficient ones, performed thousands of times without adequate recovery, strength, or awareness.

A common poster in Australian workplaces, advising to lift with knees instead of the back

Prevention isn’t just about avoiding heavy lifting. It’s about learning to movie better, building strength and creating healthy habits that support your spine throughout the day (even outside of the workplace!)For manual workers, this means adjusting how your job is performed, using the legs and hips efficiently, such as stepping rather than twisting under load.

For office workers, prevention starts with a well-set workstation, regular posture breaks where you get up and move!

Simple strategies, such as standing or walking for a few minutes each hour can go a long way in keeping your back strong and pain-free.

Most importantly, consistent strength and movement training outside of work builds resilience. A strong, stable, and mobile body is far less likely to break down under the physical demands of work.

At Ares Strength Rehab, we work with a wide range of people recovering from workplace back injuries, from tradespeople and nurses to office professionals. Our approach combines thorough assessment, targeted exercise programming, and education to help you move better and get back to work safely.