Well it’s that time of the year again where the weather is cold, we had some snow last week (that could be a good or bad thing depending how you view snow) and the days are counting down to the big day when the big guy visits!

 

Christmas….. I love it!!!! Did you know that preparing for Christmas can be classed as part of your exercise routine? Exercise and Christmas preparation, do they really go together?

 

Well yes, they do…. going out to the shops to buy presents can really rack up the miles walked and add to those calories burnt.

 

Yes, internet shopping can be hassle free and you don’t have to stand in long queues waiting to pay whilst sweating in your outdoor coat with your back and feet aching but sitting on your couch at your laptop hitting the buy button doesn’t get your heart, lungs and muscles working.

 

So, Christmas shopping is good for you and your body……fact! A couple of things to watch out for though to keep you ache and pain free when hitting the shops and crowds are:

 

1. Watch how you carry your bags

 

A couple of tips are try not to take a shoulder handbag when you go shopping as carrying the load on one shoulder will make you unbalanced and will cause you to hitch up the shoulder on the side you carry your bag to stop it from falling down. This will only cause neck and shoulder tension.

 

For those of you who want to look fashionable and carry your handbag hanging over your forearm with your elbow bent this isn’t good for you either. You may want to look like Kim Kardashian but carrying a bag like this will cause your bicep muscle to fatigue and be very sore the next day.

 

I recommend either a ruck sack (worn over both shoulders) to keep you symmetrical or an across the body bag. Both are good options so you can keep the load spread over both shoulders. Take with you only what you need to keep that bag as light as possible to stop your neck and shoulders from getting stiff, sore and achy.

 

When you have made, some purchases try to spread the load across at least two bags one in each hand so you are using both sides of your body to carry those gifts. Carrying load on just one side will make your spine work harder on the side opposite to the bag you are carrying and will cause increased tension in the muscles one the unloaded side and could cause back spasms so watch out!

 

2. Choose sensible footwear

 

I’m always amazed how women go shopping in high heels. Now don’t get me wrong I love high heels (for going on the occasional night out) but for hours of shopping they are a bad idea!

 

High heels will make your low back more arched as they throw your weight forward and to compensate for this we have to arch our low back otherwise we would fall over forwards, this results on excess pressure on your knees and low back.

 

Did you know raising your heel height just 1 inch from flat puts 22% more pressure through the ball of your foot. With a 2.8 inch heel this increases to 77%! (Bae, Ko, Lee, 2015). Ouch no wonder our feet hurt after wearing heels.

 

One more lovely problem with wearing high heels for hours on end is they put a lot of strain through our Achilles tendons as our calf muscles have to work extra hard and can even cramp and get over tight which can contribute to calf muscle tears over time.

 

MY best advice is to get the flats on…your back, hips, knees and feet will thank you for it.

 

Let’s face it we are talking about Christmas shopping as a form of festive exercise. Who can get a good pace up wearing high heels? Not me that’s for sure! For walking to be classed as exercise you need to get those lungs and heart pumping with a pace faster than a gentle stroll.

 

3. Check that standing posture

 

Now I’m one of the world’s worst for this…. check how you are standing when in that queue to pay. As we get tired a lot of us adopt a slouched posture or standing with our weight on one leg more than the other slinging one hip out to the side and we hang out on our hip ligaments instead of using our muscles to hold us upright.

 

There is a lot of debate about good and bad posture but recently the thinking is your next posture is your “best posture” so my advice to you is keep changing your standing position in that queue so you don’t get tension in the muscles building up and then struggling the next day with aches, pains and stiffness.

 

So there you have it just a few tips to get you through your Christmas shopping whilst keeping you healthy.

 

Happy shopping! 🙂

 

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[ebs_iconheading type=”h4″ style=”glyphicon-user” icontype=”glyphicon”][/ebs_iconheading] About the Author
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About Wendy McCloud

Wendy is the founder of The South East’s Leading Specialist Private Physiotherapy Practice for People in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, who want to keep healthy and active.

Wendy’s background includes working as an Extended Scope Practitioner Physiotherapist working as part of Mr. Ali Al-Sabti’s Orthopaedic Consultant’s team specialising in Shoulder Pain.

Wendy has treated royalty for Shoulder pain through referrals from her close links with a top Orthopaedic Shoulder Surgeons. More recently Wendy has been the sole choice physiotherapist for all Essex based referrals from London Shoulder surgeon Mr. Matthew Sala.

Wendy worked in National Level Rugby Union for 11 years, working with players who achieved county honours and representative honours for various countries such as England, Samoa, Australia and New Zealand. Wendy resigned from her position as Head Physiotherapist at Southend RFC in June 2011 to open WDC which has become the fastest growing clinic in the South East of England.

WDC is now a large multi-therapist speciality practice in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.

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