Jackson · Guide

West Tennessee humidity brings your fatigue forward

A West Tennessee summer is hot and humid for months, and anyone working outdoors or in an unconditioned building is doing the same job under a very different set of conditions from the one they do in October.

Heat does not make lifting more dangerous by itself. It moves the moment your technique fails to earlier in the day.

Fatigue is what breaks form

Good lifting is a skill, and skills degrade with fatigue. In heat you fatigue sooner, so the point where you stop turning your feet and start twisting to reach arrives at eleven rather than at three. Almost nobody gets hurt on the first lift of the day.

• Do the heavy and awkward jobs early. Not last because you were putting them off.
• Take the break before you need it. Once you feel it, form has already gone.
• Drink before you are thirsty. Thirst is a late signal.

Cramp is a warning, not a nuisance

A cramping muscle is one that is not going to protect a joint properly. Working through cramp is how a modest lift becomes an injury.

Going from heat into air conditioning

Moving from heat into a cold building tightens muscles that were loose. If you are going straight from outdoors into a cab or a break room and then back out to something heavy, that first lift after the cold is worth treating carefully.

When it is worth talking to somebody

Aches that clear overnight are the season. Worth a conversation with a qualified provider: pain that came on suddenly during a lift, anything travelling down a leg, numbness or tingling, or weakness in a leg or foot.

Dizziness, confusion or stopping sweating in the heat is a medical emergency, not a back problem.

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