Have you ever seen a group of 500 construction workers gather at 7 am to participate in a morning stretch? The project site managers at the Milwaukee Bucks Arena recognized the importance of a daily employee workplace stretching routine and set aside 10 minutes every morning from their highly time-sensitive schedules to encourage employee wellness!
Benefits of Workplace Stretching: EMPLOYEE HANDOUT
Using workplace stretching as an employee wellness technique can help you boost the health, morale, and productivity of your employees while increasing your business's profits and decreasing the likelihood of an employee injury and workers' compensation claim! Share these benefits with your employees to encourage them to implement a daily stretching routine!
Top Reasons to Participate in Workplace Stretching
- Increased ability to perform everyday tasks at work and at home.
- Decreased muscle stiffness and joint stiffness and pain to the back, neck, shoulders, knees, hips, elbows, wrists and hands.
- Increased range of motion.
- Improve your body's balance! By improving your coordination, your body's reaction time and balance will increase while your risk of falling decreases!
- Reduced muscle fatigue and soreness! Both of which are contributing factors leading to Musculoskeletal disorders.
- Improved posture.
- Eased back pain! A lot of lower back pain comes from tight hamstrings. By stretching them out daily and increasing your flexibility you may decrease your back pain!
- Increased energy from enhanced circulation! Increased blood supply and nutrients to your muscles, tendons and joints which gives your body and mind more ENERGY!
- Reduced STRESS... Yeah... What an awesome reason to stretch daily! Well stretched muscles hold less tension and therefore you feel less stressed!
- Enhanced enjoyment and quality of your everyday life with your family, friends, co-workers, and hobbies you enjoy!
Employer Encouragement of Workplace Stretching
Employers should encourage all employees to participate in a daily stretching routine. There may be some cost associated with implementing a stretching program, but preventing workers' compensation claims can be a huge return on investment. Some actions employers can take to encourage stretching include:
- Handing out a flyer with the benefits of stretching
- Hiring a Yoga instructor to come in once a month and teach employees a stretching routine
- Setting aside time for a "Group Stretch" every morning before the start of the workday
- Getting management involved and invested in the Stretching Program
Extra Tip: Administrative and clerical employees may not be at high risk for strenuous Musculoskeletal Disorders, but continuously remaining sedentary can lead to a completely different set of problems. Use our Proper Workstation Set Up tips to prevent possible long-term injuries!