All I want for Christmas is… no aches and pains

Christmas shopping hurts all of our bank balances, but what about causing long-term injuries to your body? Here we have a few tips for you to put in place to avoid injury during this festive period.

Wear sensible shoes

The distance usually covered when Christmas shopping is enough to make your fitbit proud. Although working up your mileage has health benefits, it’s important to look after your feet – especially in the cold, icy weather. As well as providing cushioning for your hard-working feet, sensible footwear also reduces your chance of falling and causing yourself a nasty injury. So ditch those new shiny shoes and grab your trusty trainers, walking boots or gym shoes and you’ll be ready for your shopping marathon.

Shop with a buddy

Christmas shopping is always nice when you can share the laughs (and the stress) of gift buying with somebody else. It’s also handy for sharing the weight of the bags. Evenly distributing the weight of your shopping prevents back and neck ache as well as decreasing your risk of tension headaches and muscle pain.

Rest and recovery

It’s important to break up the day into sizeable chunks so you’re only on your feet and lifting heavy bags for one to two hours at a time. It’s a great excuse to stop and have a coffee, a smoothie or some lunch and have a catch up with your shopping buddy. If shopping isn’t your pass time of choice, two hours or more of walking around with bags is going to take its toll on your body, primarily your neck, lower back and feet. Therefore it’s important to be sensible with your time, don’t rush, rest every couple of hours for around 15-30 minutes. This way you won’t be left hobbling about at Christmas time!

Build up your strength prior to the trip

If you have many aches and pains before you’ve even started your Christmas shopping, then physiotherapy may be the answer for you. Physiotherapy can help people regain movement, increase mobility and reduce pain using a variety of techniques.

Alternatively, if you’re super organised, have finished your Christmas shopping and this article has come a little too late as you’ve caused yourself an injury, physiotherapy can help.

Here at Spire Harpenden Hospital we have a great team of specialist physiotherapists who will help to save your Christmas, to book today please call: 01582 787 082. Happy shopping!