Should I or should I not work at mail centre with acute lower back pain

[paul39222]

I suddenly very badly sprained my lower back (small of my back) when getting into the car 9 days ago. Since then I have seen a physio who said the injury was not serious and I should recover in 4 to 6 weeks. She also said I could start going back to work at the mail centre. So I went back to work yesterday evening and things were generally okay except the pain was slightly exacerbated and is maybe worse today than at this time yesterday.

I would really appreciate knowledgeable colleagues telling me whether working at the mail centre is a good idea while my back is still in the early stages of recovery (especially for full 7-8 hour shifts) or whether it would be best to do short and gentle exercises only, like the ones the physio recommends. In other words, is the increased pressure on my back perversely good for it because it's keeping the muscles active, or is it bad because it's causing increased strain, which means full recovery might be longer or might not even happen? I'm not too concerned about the level of pain, I just want a steady recovery with no complications.

Please don't comment about the political side like pay and bad managers etc. because that's a separate topic! And note my injury was acute, not chronic; I think chronic pain might have a separate answer.

Thanks for any advice.

[midegarelu]

Hi,
I feel your pain.
Quite literally.
Keep following the exercises given you by the physio.
Try to keep away from Flats & Letters, Mech and tipping.
Manually sorting packets has worked for me for the last 14 years.
Obviously mine is long term, but by following the above at least for the short term should help.

[SpacePhoenix]

Manually sorting packets has worked for me for the last 14 years.

All of our primary packet sort that used to be done using crashes is now all done on conveyor belts

[aiden01]

Manually sorting packets has worked for me for the last 14 years.

All of our primary packet sort that used to be done using crashes is now all done on conveyor belts

What's crashes?

[SpacePhoenix]

Manually sorting packets has worked for me for the last 14 years.

All of our primary packet sort that used to be done using crashes is now all done on conveyor belts

What's crashes?

You have a group of mini sleeves in the middle for the different "roads" and full height sleeves for the "direct ones" (offices that get the most). Each " road" covers a number of DOs. On the "road" setup you have a full height sleeve for each DO the road covers

[aiden01]

Manually sorting packets has worked for me for the last 14 years.

All of our primary packet sort that used to be done using crashes is now all done on conveyor belts

What's crashes?

You have a group of mini sleeves in the middle for the different "roads" and full height sleeves for the "direct ones" (offices that get the most). Each " road" covers a number of DOs. On the "road" setup you have a full height sleeve for each DO the road covers

Yeah never heard the word crashes tho. Its still manual sorting tho no matter how you name it.
Packets come up conveyor belt an you sort them.

[SpacePhoenix]

Manually sorting packets has worked for me for the last 14 years.

All of our primary packet sort that used to be done using crashes is now all done on conveyor belts

What's crashes?

You have a group of mini sleeves in the middle for the different "roads" and full height sleeves for the "direct ones" (offices that get the most). Each " road" covers a number of DOs. On the "road" setup you have a full height sleeve for each DO the road covers

Yeah never heard the word crashes tho. Its still manual sorting tho no matter how you name it.
Packets come up conveyor belt an you sort them.

Sorting is much quicker on a conveyor belt than using a crash. Most of our primary Tracked sort is done on a conveyor, give it time I reckon we'll get another couple of conveyors and then all primary sorting of small packets will be done on a conveyor

[britwrit]

It depends. I've worked in four mail centres. Some have been really good at getting people light duties. Some not.

Otherwise, most jobs do involve some moderate back strain. Pushing yorks. Tying up bags. Assembling red sleeves. Nothing like being outside on a walk but noticeable?

[SpacePhoenix]

It depends. I've worked in four mail centres. Some have been really good at getting people light duties. Some not.

Otherwise, most jobs do involve some moderate back strain. Pushing yorks. Tying up bags. Assembling red sleeves. Nothing like being outside on a walk but noticeable?

There's not a job on the floor that doesn't involve pushing full up yorks around at some point. Bags don't get used much, mainly in the SD lockers for DOs that don't get enough SDs to justify using a sleeve. Apart from that i's a handful of selections that go by air and anything that goes abroad by plane.

Outside of Xmas pressure, there's only a handful of flats and letters duties, and they still involve pushing yorks around