A moving experience sans pain

Whether you're packing up and moving across town or just need to move a large piece of furniture out of a room, there's one thing you can count on -- there's going to be stress involved, not only to your psyche but to your body, as well.

"Back pain is one of the most common ailments in America. About 80 percent of us will experience it at some point in our adult lives. Most often, it will be because we lifted something that was too heavy, or we lifted a manageable load in an improper way," said Tom Dent, a veteran appliance mover who has experienced his share of back pain over the years.

After years of dealing with back pain, Dent set out to come up with a better way to manage the large pieces of furniture and appliances he had to deal with every day. And so, he created the Shoulder Dolly, a patented harness system that allows users to lift with their legs and safely lift virtually any heavy or bulky item in the home, including big screen TVs, entertainment centers, dressers, mattresses, sofas, appliances, etc.

Working in two-person teams, users simply strap into the Shoulder Dolly, slip the carrying strap under the item to be lifted, and then use their leg muscles to lift the weight. The Shoulder Dolly helps users keep their spines aligned, which in turn encourages lifting with the legs, rather than with the back.

In an ergonomic evaluation performed by ErgoMed of Thornton, Colo., testers found that use of the Shoulder Dolly dropped the probability of lower back disorders from 41 percent to 27 percent when moving appliances up and down stairs; and from 42 percent to 25 percent when moving electronic equipment manually on a level surface.

The Shoulder Dolly is available at moving and home-improvement stores, or visit www.shoulderdolly.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent