Physical Demands of EMS

[aussiephil]

Glad someone picked it up. I was curious to see who would.

[HERBIE1]

I had to use those one man stretchers for the first two years of my career. The toughest part was lining up the cot with the pins. If you miss, you're manipulating the cot from the bottom again. With four people, we would cross our grips over, forming an "X" with our near arms. I still use that technique to lift pts from the cot to a hospital bed.

Anyways, the average EMS worker isn't exactly the picture of health. Long hours, frequent OT, interrupted sleep, sitting for extended periods of time, lifting the obese in awkward, mechanically disadvantageous positions and eating fast food and 7-11 due to lack of options takes it's toll.

For the OP, to do the job and hopefully remain injury free, you need to realize a few things:

A&P will teach you that the various muscles in your midsection run at all different angles. This is effective for protection if you train these muscles properly. Do prone planks, side planks, hanging toes to bar, ab wheel rollouts, turkish get upss and olympic style front squats (OSFS) to name a few things.

Your posterior chain is where your strength from, and glute activation is the key to knee stability among other things. Deadlifts and romanian deadlifts are obvious, as well as glute ham raises, hyperextensions, bulgarian split squats, lunges, and snatch grip deadlifts.

Most lifting in EMS is front loaded. Deadlifts, OSFS's, rows, renegade rows, sandbag carries and farmer's walks will get the job done .

Moving a pt from cot to bed requires a strong pull in addition to a solid core. Pullups, rows, cable rows, and one arm DB unsupported (standing with free arm not resting on anything) will do.

Don't forget shoulder health. Face pulls, the waiter's walk, power wheel/frisbee walks, scapular pushups, YTWL, scapular wall slides, and "reverse" shrugs while hanging from a pullup bar should bulletproof your shoulders.

Most if not all lifting should be done from a standing or kneeling position just like on the job.

All good advice. When I started really concentrating on my core, I noticed my back aches were less frequent. The stronger your abs, the stronger your back. Repetitive motion causes wear and tear- no way around it, but as you noted, exercises and targeted strength training are vital- especially with someone who may be slight of build.

That said, injuries do happen. I liken our back problems to the heart and lung problems of old time firefighters who started their careers before the advent of the SCBA. It's simply part of the job.

[46Young]

One thing I forgot - try taking in a deep breath, hold it, and bear down while lifting. It gives you an extra measure of protection, and the momentary increase in BP hasn't shown any advserse effects to my knowledge.

[HERBIE1]

One thing I forgot - try taking in a deep breath, hold it, and bear down while lifting. It gives you an extra measure of protection, and the momentary increase in BP hasn't shown any advserse effects to my knowledge.

That's fine advice, but you better have a spare pair of undies available too.

LOL