Athlete : a person who is trained in or good at sports, games, or exercises that require physical skill and strength, as defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary
There are hundreds of jobs that require physical strength, stamina, and motor skills. Construction laborers may have to carry 80 pound bags of concrete across a job site. Cell tower climbers have to climb over 300 feet to get to their job. Lifeguards, nurses, security officers, irrigation techs, linemen, the list can go on and on. These are the men and women that this article is about, the forgotten athletes, the ones who use their bodies 40 plus hours a week to support their families. Yet somehow in the grand scheme of things we blindly overlook the price that they'll pay with their bodies after years of hard, exhausting work, day in day out.
Occupational therapy has become a huge business in the U.S. due to injuries obtained on the job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says;
'Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) accounted for 33 percent of all injury and illness cases in2013. Nursing assistants and laborers and freight, stock, and material movers incurred the highest number of MSD cases in 2013. (See table 18.) MSD cases accounted for 53 percent of total cases that occurred to nursing assistants in 2013.'
And to make matters worse the Center for Disease Control says that in 2013;
'The survey revealed that only 20.6 percent of people met the total recommended amounts of exercise -- about 23 percent of all surveyed men and 18 percent of surveyed women. People most likely to exercise were between the ages of 18 and 24 (almost 31 percent of exercisers).'
And to make matters worse the Center for Disease Control says that in 2013;
'The survey revealed that only 20.6 percent of people met the total recommended amounts of exercise -- about 23 percent of all surveyed men and 18 percent of surveyed women. People most likely to exercise were between the ages of 18 and 24 (almost 31 percent of exercisers).'
20.6 percent exercise regularly! This shows how much of our society needs to be involved with some form of functional fitness. Even if weight training is part of a worker's lifestyle, functional movement exercises should be added to their training. Working at a job that requires physical abilities automatically puts one into the athlete category and needs to be treated as such. How many of those injuries that make up the 33% could have been prevented by a functional exercise program. How many of them occurred due to poor range of motion, weakness, obesity, or an imbalance in the body? Having a job with health care is nice, not having to use it is even nicer.
For the professional trainers out there, ask your clients what they do for a living. For all you hard workers, get involved with a trainer and a physical activity that will increase your longevity at your job. Your fitness may even be called upon one day to rescue a co-worker, so be ready. From my own experiences as a 'hard working Joe', getting hurt sucks and not being able to perform a task is even worse. Train my friends - your job as an athlete depends on it.
For the professional trainers out there, ask your clients what they do for a living. For all you hard workers, get involved with a trainer and a physical activity that will increase your longevity at your job. Your fitness may even be called upon one day to rescue a co-worker, so be ready. From my own experiences as a 'hard working Joe', getting hurt sucks and not being able to perform a task is even worse. Train my friends - your job as an athlete depends on it.
