ailments caused by being a postie

[mailman71]

been 38 year in royal mail and i am fuc-ed,but not as much as some of the managers who have been in the job 10years and look like uncle albert in fools and horses,this job is puting years on them.

[DGP1]

OK here goes:

Left foot constantly in pain
Both ankles (problem eased since I've gone back to boots that semi support them)
Left knee in total agony all the time (only eased by fistfulls of pain killers)
Right knee going but not as bad as the left one
Sciatica (which is a real pain in the arse )
Bad back
Ruined shoulder
Constant neck pain
Left arm
Right wrist
Anxiety
Depression
Insomnia

In the future RM is going to end up being taken to court over all the damages caused to it's employees, a big class action that will put it out of business.

[mailsort6]

OK here goes:

Left foot constantly in pain
Both ankles (problem eased since I've gone back to boots that semi support them)
Left knee in total agony all the time (only eased by fistfulls of pain killers)
Right knee going but not as bad as the left one
Sciatica (which is a real pain in the arse )
Bad back
Ruined shoulder
Constant neck pain
Left arm
Right wrist
Anxiety
Depression
Insomnia

In the future RM is going to end up being taken to court over all the damages caused to it's employees, a big class action that will put it out of business.

If most posites were to go to an hosiptal to get an x-ray done I think that they will be some remarkable findings which will see RM in court. Most posites when they go sick it is usually due to back ache, pain in their joints, tennis elbow, RSI and Sciatica, it does not matter how many lifting and handling videos RM show us its the equipment that is the problem they are out-dated and need replacing.

[stokes11eg]

Only my mouth works properly now---the rest not fit for the knackers yard, and I still try and keep myself fit out of hours!!!!!

[Puppetmaster]

im 30

suffer from a bad knee currently in process of having it looked at. It may be ligament and cartilege.

My back / shoulders always or 80% of the time ache

Posture terrible

Neck pains caused by all of the above

You can see now why the long term plans of the Royal Mail are to take the load off our backs and shoulders.

I would bet there is a secret hidden report somewhere in Royal Mail entitled

"TOP SECRET"
"The long term medical problems of full time and permanent delivery staff"

Conclusions: "we cannot afford to have an increased workrate and delivery capacity without serious long term and costly medical problems developing. As a short term solution the introduction of high capacity golf carts and prams will enable us delay any major medical insurance claims. Longer term our plans to move over to a part time workforce, with a high staff turnover rate, will shield us from any damaging litagation. Staff will either never be in the job long enough to develop problems, or be kept on long enough to become a problem"

Not for general distribution - highest security level (Level 3)

WOW !
HONESTLY SOUNDS SO TRUE !

[concerneduk]

Only my mouth works properly now---the rest not fit for the knackers yard, and I still try and keep myself fit out of hours!!!!!

My DOM would say my mouth doesn't seem to work either as it never responds the way he wants it to. "YES" to every unreasonable request. Well my hand knows how to cross YES on the ballot so he can rest assured.

[bootleg]

i have been with royal mail 16 years,during this time and before i used do martial arts competetivley in the ring.
over the last 5 years i have now have had to stop all of my training as i have really bad back and knees,now my neck is starting to hurt.
this has nothing to do with my sport as i am still in touch with many of my mates who still train and are of the same age(but dont work for rm)
i believe this is down to my job.

[kay_thebigbird]

For the first 15 or 16 years I worked in my MC I was sorting most of the time.
And apart from the basic 43 hours as it was when I started, I usually worked
4 hours OT each day Mon-Fri, 5 hours OT on Saturday, and 6 hours on Sunday.
Eventually I developed 'tennis elbow' in my right elbow, which made it painful
to sort. I didn't have time off sick for it, and it got better after I eventually
got a duty that didn't involve sorting for most of the day (and stopped doing
so much OT).

Like you baldrick I have tennis elbow in both my arms because of the job, my right elbow so chronic had the operation 6 weeks ago to cut away the tendons still bloody painful might have to have the op done a second time yet,been off sick nearly 7 weeks now, can't see at the moment how I can work on my delivery arm to painful can't lift anything heavy,never had any problems with my elbows before, that's what nearly 16 years on delivery did to me,41 years old now ,I reckon only got another 10 years max in this job if I can keep fit enough getting to much weight to carry now on your knee's, hips joints etc especially if your over 50.

[baldrick]

When I went to see the MC Nurse (we had one in those days) who was notorious
for trying to get you back to work regardless of whatever was affecting you, she
told me that it was due to getting old. I pointed out that my left arm was just as
old, but that didn't hurt.

[pickaname]

Theres a few blokes at my office who have to wear these strange wrist braces the loop round your thumbs. I dunno why or what they do but perhaps its something to do with sorting mail for years and years messes with your tendons.

Back in the day i used to grab a bit of docket for throwing off half or more of a 2nd walk (wouldnt get docket for that now!). I developed chronic pain in my left elbow after about 2 weeks which meant i couldnt play guitar in my band. I stopped doing the extra and it went away.

It scares me that RMs apparent move toward BSI 100 will cause me permanent injury in my left arm.

[Spedley]

Bizarrely, the only problem I have is pain in the knuckle of the finger I use to open the letterboxes with.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Bizarrely, the only problem I have is pain in the knuckle of the finger I use to open the letterboxes with.

Not the same one you use to communicate your frustration to management is it.

[pickaname]

Bizarrely, the only problem I have is pain in the knuckle of the finger I use to open the letterboxes with.

Not the same one you use to communicate your frustration to management is it.

Funny how you chose a dutch photo there TBT...

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Funny how you chose a dutch photo there TBT...

[cyclemech1]

I've been doing this job for 12 years and it might surprise some of you that I don't think I have any aches and pains that I can put down to the job(apart from exhaustion at the end of the walk!)

Mind you, ever since I started I have always used a bike and, although it's not officialy recommended, I leave all the weight on the bike and just deliver one bundle at a time in a series of small loops.(Luckily I have a nice flat walk on a nice estate with no flats)

The only things I carry in a shoulder bag are light packets and I have bag drops from the driver at various points on my walk.

Never used my car but no doubt it encourages you to put heavy bags on your shoulder to try and finish as quick as you can.

The ones with back problems etc. at my office all seem to be car users!

By the way, I'm 55 so hopefully EVR isn't too far away.