Household Workout – Part I

Cleaning the house, doing laundry, and making the beds are chores that we are all very familiar with. But did you know that activities of daily living may contribute to a good chunk of our energy expenditure? This is especially true for sedentary people. Our metabolic rate, i.e., the total amount of calories we burn during the day, increases as we exercise and decreases as we rest. This means that the more you move, the more calories you’ll burn throughout the day. What many people don’t realize is that household chores are basically exercises. They are usually composed of complex movements that recruit several muscle groups at once and usually require the participation of multiple joints. In addition, some of these activities may even be considered vigorous, raising your heart rate and leaving you out of breath quickly. They do burn a considerable amount of calories too. For example, vacuuming, mopping, or scrubbing floors can burn as many calories as a brisk walk.

However, most of us don’t treat these household activities as exercise. After all, they are just boring chores that we execute as fast as we can in order to get rid of them. The problem is that if you don’t watch your posture while performing these tasks, you might get hurt. I’m sure you know someone (or maybe experienced it yourself) who hurt his/her back while trying to lift a heavy object from the floor. This is just one example of how mindless activities may lead to injury. That’s why it is important to maintain good posture and body alignment in everything we do, no matter how small or insignificant the task may seem.

Following a few safety precautions while performing chores can protect your body and prevent injuries. Remember to maintain good posture and proper form at all times.

• Maintain a neutral spine. The term “neutral spine” refers to the maintenance of the natural curvatures of the vertebral column in which its structures are kept in an optimum position. The normal curves of the spine enable it to better absorb shocks. Also, in this position, the compression forces are evenly distributed throughout the intervertebral disks. A neutral spine is obtained when the back is neither arched nor rounded. For instance, when you lean forward to pick up an object from the floor, your back should be in a straight line and the bending movement should come from your hips and knees, not from the spine.
• Brace yourself. Bracing is a protective maneuver in which the core muscles are isometrically[1] engaged to stabilize the spine and maintain body alignment and good posture. This maneuver is commonly used during weight-lifting to protect the spine against compressive forces. Bracing is a combination of two well-known movements: the kegel exercise and the draw-in. Most of us are somewhat familiar with the kegel exercise in which the pelvic floor musculature is activated as if to stop urination. The draw-in is an abdominal movement where the navel is pulled towards the spine. Combining these two movements creates tension in the abdominal walls that feels as if you are wearing a corset. Another way to obtain the bracing is by imagining that someone is going to punch you in the stomach. You will immediately contract your abdominal and pelvic floor muscles in order to protect yourself from the imminent blow. Use bracing when lifting heavy loads (picking up your toddler) or pushing and pulling big objects (moving furniture).
• Avoid side dominance. We all have a dominant side that we heavily rely upon to perform most tasks. However, this slowly creates an imbalance between the left and right sides of our body. This means that we tend to have one side that is stronger and more flexible than the other, just because we use it more. Household chores give you the perfect opportunity to reduce this disparity because they are usually comprised of familiar movements that don’t require great dexterity. Consider this: you wouldn’t go to the gym and workout only your right arm or leg, would you? Therefore, you could try using your non-dominant hand to vacuum the carpet or to clean the windows. This simple drill may help you develop a more balanced physique as it improves cognition.
• Recruit the right muscles for the task. I know that this seems to be obvious advice, but many people still use their back muscles to lift heavy objects from the floor (which often results in injuries). Keep in mind that it is very important to recruit stronger muscle groups whenever we are loading our body during movement. This means bending the knees and hips to reach for the object on the floor, while using the leg muscles to lift the weight. The back and abdominal muscles’ role is to stabilize the trunk, not to bear the load. On the other hand, if you need to move something above your head, such as placing a can on a top shelf of your pantry, you must engage the upper-back muscles to stabilize the shoulder blades. This way, your shoulder and arm muscles will be able to lift the load above your head without compromising the joints.
• Rotate from your hips, not from your lower back. Our spine is capable of a great range of motion thanks to its many articulations. This allows us to bend forward, backward, and to the side as well as to twist the trunk. However, each segment of the vertebral column is designed to perform different movements. The lumbar (lower back) vertebrae are large with thick disks specially designed to bear our body weight. The anatomy of these bony structures facilitates flexion (forward bending), extension (backward bending), and side-bending, but rotation is very difficult.  This means that to rotate the trunk, the movement must start from the hips. A household chore that typically requires rotational movement is loading a washing machine. First, you squat down to grab clothes from the laundry basket. Then, you lift as you rotate the trunk to place the clothes inside the machine. During this movement, it is fundamental to allow the rotation of the pelvis in order to protect the lower back.

References

Calais-Germain, B. Anatomy of Movement. Seattle: Eastland Press. 2007.

Floyd, R. T. Manual of Structural Kinesiology. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2009.