All good meetings should start with a safety share. This one is therefor way overdue.
When I was in high school, I was a gymnast. I specialized in the rings. You know, the one with the “iron cross”? That’s always a crowd favorite. At one point in my gymnastics career, I broke my back. I was unaware of this until about two years later, when I applied for a summer job at the Climax mine in Colorado. They gave me a very thorough physical examination. A couple of days later, they called me back, saying that they needed additional x-rays. After these x-rays, they told me that I would not be eligible for the summer job due to my back. A small bone in my lower back had been broken off. It’s one of the small bones that helps to keep your vertebrae knitted together. It never bothered me until about 20 years later.
When we were living in South Africa, I was doing some really strenuous workouts in the weight room, and I was pretty fatigued. We went to a fun day event at my kid’s school, and after arriving, I climbed into the back seat to change my shoes. Suddenly I was stricken with a very intense pain in my lower back. I had no idea what it was. But after seeking medical advice, I was told that this was due to the backbone that had been broken, many years before. Eventually I recovered, but about two or three times a year, I throw out my back. It’s usually when I let my guard down. Most recently I threw out my back while I was applying a finishing coat to a picnic table.
Almost always, I use good body mechanics when I am picking up something heavy. I seldom let my guard down for that.
The moral of the story is: take care of your back, and it will take care of you.
Stay healthy.