Pilates guide
Back, neck and shoulder pain are common in nursing, and much of it comes from the work itself: moving and handling patients, long shifts on your feet, heavy workloads and night shifts. Pilates can help with part of that. In a Finnish trial of 219 women working in healthcare with recurring back pain, Pilates-type exercise after shifts, with back care advice, reduced back pain and sick days, though exercise on its own made only a small difference.
Pilates doesn't make lifting a patient safe, and it isn't a substitute for hoists and other equipment, enough staff, breaks, your employer's moving and handling training or occupational health. Back pain from the job isn't a sign that you lifted badly or aren't fit enough. This guide applies to midwives, healthcare assistants and care workers too.
It covers why nurses' backs, necks and shoulders hurt and what employers must do, what Pilates and other exercise have been shown to do, long shifts on your feet, night shifts and sleep, a 20-minute after-shift class and the warning signs.
Across 42 studies, about 3 in 4 nurses reported a work-related musculoskeletal problem in a year, the lower back most, then the neck and shoulder. Moving and handling patients carries the highest risk of back problems.
UK law requires employers to avoid manual handling that risks injury where they reasonably can, and to assess and reduce the rest. The Royal College of Nursing says "No-one should be routinely manually moving or lifting patients or heavy objects." Programmes built on hoists and policy cut handling injuries, while training in lifting technique alone hasn't prevented back pain.
In 219 women working in healthcare with recurring back pain, Pilates-type exercise led by certified Pilates instructors, with back care counselling, reduced back pain and sick days. Exercise on its own eased pain by only about 5 points out of 100, below the trial's own bar for a meaningful change.
Across 9 trials in nursing staff, exercise programmes reduced back pain by a small amount, and in the general population, exercise with education cut the risk of a new episode of back pain.
Nearly half of nurses have symptoms of shift work disorder. No Pilates sleep trial in nurses exists, and the Health and Safety Executive advises avoiding vigorous exercise before sleep, so keep after-shift Pilates gentle.
The NHS Staff Council says "General fitness is not always a guarantee against injury". A strong core doesn't make lifting a patient safe; equipment, staffing and safe systems of work do.
Source 13
Each figure keeps its own group and measure. Most of these are surveys, and the surveys vary widely.
Across 42 studies of 36,934 nurses, 77.2% reported a work-related musculoskeletal disorder in the past year: the lower back 59.5%, neck 53.0% and shoulder 46.8%. Across the reviews, figures run from 77% to 88% overall and about 58% to 61% for the lower back. The surveys behind these figures disagree hugely with each other, and four of the reviews come from one French group using overlapping studies, so take any single figure loosely. Across midwives, nurses and doctors, about 45% had neck pain and 40% shoulder pain in a year, and the knee, foot and ankle are the leg sites most affected in nurses.
Across 89 studies, "Patient handling appears to confer the highest risk, but other nursing duties are also associated with elevated risk", and "A threshold of nursing activities below which the risk of back disorders is not elevated has not been established". In the lab, every way of transferring or repositioning a 50 kg simulated patient by hand carried a substantial risk to the lower back, and one-person repositioning went beyond what the spine tolerates; the authors concluded "Therefore, to have an impact on LBD, it is necessary to provide mechanical lift assist devices." (LBD is low back disorders). An analysis by a researcher at the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health gives "a recommended 35-lb. maximum weight limit for use in patient-handling tasks" (about 16 kg), with equipment above it.
High demands with little control went with back pain in hospital nurses, and "Effort-reward imbalance was associated with prevalent MSD at any anatomical site (OR 6.13; 95% CI 5.32-7.07)" (MSD is musculoskeletal disorders; OR an odds ratio). In 427 Saudi nurses, frequent lifting and work stress went with back pain; in Chinese studies, heavy workloads and working more than 8 hours a day did too. In 1,163 US nurses, long hours, weekends and shifts other than days went with 50% to 170% higher odds of neck, shoulder and back problems, and the authors say "preventing musculoskeletal disorders requires system-level approaches to scheduling". In 569 Czech nurses, "LBP was found to occur significantly less among nursing staff who used mechanical lifting aids." (LBP is low back pain). These are snapshots, so they show links, not causes.
Older reviews linked night or rotating shifts with back pain, in nurses and in other workers. The newest review, of 24 studies and 102,159 nurses in 2026, found no link: "No statistically significant associations were identified between rotating shifts and musculoskeletal pain compared with day shifts". So whether night shifts themselves cause pain is unsettled.
Back pain from moving patients and long shifts comes from the work and how it's organised, not from a weak core or poor technique. Pilates can make you feel stronger and ease some pain; it can't make an unsafe task safe (our reading).
Under the Manual Handling Operations Regulations, employers must "so far as is reasonably practicable, avoid the need for his employees to undertake any manual handling operations at work which involve a risk of their being injured", assess what can't be avoided, and reduce the risk to the lowest level reasonably practicable. The Health and Safety Executive asks employers to look at the task, the load, the working environment and individual capacity, and to "Make sure your workforce is fully involved in the risk assessment process." It notes that "Some staff may have to adopt and hold awkward postures as part of their work, for example, nursing staff, sonographers and theatre staff." Equipment includes hoists, slide sheets, transfer boards and profiling beds, and employees follow the safe systems and use the equipment provided.
The Royal College of Nursing: "No-one should be routinely manually moving or lifting patients or heavy objects." and "Patient manual handling should only continue in cases that do not involve lifting most or all of a patient's weight." The NHS Staff Council: "No one working in a hospital, nursing home, social care, community or emergency services should need to put their personal safety at risk when moving or handling patients." If that isn't happening, speak to your manager, occupational health or your union representative.
A Cochrane review of 9 trials (20,101 workers) found "moderate quality evidence that MMH advice and training with or without assistive devices does not prevent back pain or back pain-related disability when compared to no intervention or alternative interventions." (MMH is manual material handling). Another review says "There is strong evidence that interventions predominantly based on technique training have no impact on working practices or injury rates.", and a review in nurses found training on its own ineffective but programmes with several parts effective. No single treatment has strong evidence for back pain in nurses.
Across 27 articles from 44 sites, safe patient handling programmes cut injury rates by more than half (rate ratio 0.44), but most of these studies compared before and after with no control group. In 6 nursing homes, lifts, repositioning aids, a no-lift policy and training cut workers' compensation claims (rate ratio 0.39), again before and after. In the one study with a comparison hospital, lifting and exertion injuries fell by about a quarter. A biomechanics review says "Evidence indicates the best way to lift patients safely is with floor or ceiling lifts, and air-assisted devices for lateral and repositioning tasks."
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports that nursing assistants had 166.3 musculoskeletal injuries with days away from work per 10,000 workers in 2017, against 30.5 for all workers, and lists management commitment, equipment, training and worker involvement as the parts of a safe handling programme.
One good-sized trial of Pilates-type exercise in healthcare workers, a few small or unpublished studies, and more trials of other exercise.
219 women aged 30 to 55 working in healthcare (87% nurses or nursing assistants, 70% on shifts) with recurring low back pain were randomised to exercise with back care counselling, exercise alone, counselling alone or neither. The exercise was "Pilates-type", led by certified Pilates instructors, on mats, in groups near work about 15 minutes after shifts: twice a week for 8 weeks, then one supervised and one home session a week up to 6 months, with the side bridge and kneeling on all fours among the main exercises.
With counselling, back pain fell more than in the control group (an effect size of 0.70), and sick days were fewer, with no adverse events. Exercise alone eased pain by 11.3 points out of 100 against 6.1 with no exercise at 12 months, a difference of about 5 points, below the 15-point change the trial itself counted as meaningful, although pain interfering with work improved. At 12 months, none of the approaches was cost-effective for sickness absence, but at 24 months exercise with counselling was cost-effective for treating back pain. People came to 26 of 48 sessions on average, fewer if they worked shifts, and the authors say "we cannot say that it is superior to any other exercise type."
In 110 intensive care and emergency nurses, home mat Pilates from a video for 8 weeks didn't change professional self-concept: "The difference was not significant." In 30 COVID-19 ward nurses, 10 minutes of Pilates before work for a month didn't change anxiety or job stress, and the authors note that "some risk factors are not dependent on the individual and cannot be influenced by performing intervention on the individual". The rest have no comparison group, are posters, or are registered trials with no results posted.
A 2026 review of 12 workplace Pilates trials (582 workers) found better function at low certainty and no clear change in pain. Only 2 of the 12 trials were in healthcare workers, and a companion review mislabels several trials as being in nurses, so neither tells you much about nurses.
Across 9 trials in 1,355 nursing staff, "Exercise programs had a small but significant effect on low back pain of nursing staff". In 200 Danish healthcare workers, 10 minutes of strength exercise at work 5 times a week for 10 weeks, alongside advice on patient handling and lifting aids, eased pain more than the same exercise at home, by 0.7 points out of 10. Smaller trials of stretching, core stability and a short daily stretch reported benefits, though two lost many participants, and exercise by video call in care workers didn't lower average back pain, though pain got in the way of work less.
Across 21 trials in the general population (30,850 people), "there was moderate-quality evidence that exercise combined with education reduces the risk of an episode of LBP", and "Other interventions, including education alone, back belts, and shoe insoles, do not appear to prevent LBP."
Source 10
A Cochrane review of 10 trials found Pilates helps back pain more than minimal care and about as much as other exercise, at low to moderate quality, and NICE suggests considering a group exercise programme for an episode or flare-up of low back pain. Our Pilates for back pain guide has the detail.
Korean nurses walked about 9,360 steps (5.79 km) in an average 9.4-hour shift, and standing patient care counts as light to moderate activity (3.3 METs, multiples of resting energy use). Shifts of 12 hours or more went with worse outcomes in a review, and in 31,627 European nurses, those on 12-hour shifts more often rated patient safety as poor; a 2026 review of intensive care nurses found no consistent advantage for 12- or 8-hour shifts. NHS Employers says "There is a general agreement from safety experts that 12-hour shifts should be no longer than 13 hours in total duration, including adequate unpaid rest breaks."
Standing more than 4 hours a day went with low back symptoms, though the authors call their conclusions tentative. The aids that have been tested are "floor mats, sit-stand workstations/chairs, shoes, shoe inserts and hosiery or stockings": compression stockings reduced leg swelling in a 12-month trial in 75 healthcare professionals and in a small lab study, and unstable shoes eased back pain in a pilot trial of 20 nurses.
The Royal College of Nursing says "Breaks should be seen as a necessity, rather than a luxury", and found that "nearly 60% of respondents did not get to take sufficient breaks on their last shift". The NHS Staff Council advises employers to "Encourage and provide opportunities for musculoskeletal health-promoting activities such as warm-ups and minibreaks to move and stretch."
Calf and hip strength, ankle circles, and a few minutes lying with your legs up after a shift (our reading, as on our varicose veins page). Our standing back pain and foot pain guides cover the rest.
About half of nurses report neck pain in a year (45% to 53% across reviews), and about 40% to 47% shoulder pain. In Sweden, experienced nurses with severe back or neck pain often cut their hours or changed tasks.
In the Danish workplace trial, short strength sessions at work eased healthcare workers' pain more than the same exercise at home. Pilates and band work can train the upper back and shoulder blades at low load (our reading); our Pilates for neck pain guide has more.
"The pooled prevalence of shift work disorder among nurses was 45.5 % (95 % CI: 39.2-51.8 %)", against about a quarter across all shift workers, and quick returns between shifts raised the risk most. In healthcare shift workers, "physical activity was a protective factor", and nurses' sleep has got shorter over the years.
A Cochrane review of shift workers found "Physical exercise and sleep education interventions showed promise, but sufficient data to draw conclusions are lacking." In a newer review, most exercise trials in shift workers reported better sleep, but most were at some risk of bias, and fatigue and irregular schedules got in the way. In 60 Taiwanese nurses, walking and jogging after day shifts lengthened sleep within the group, but the effect lasted only to 4 weeks. In other groups, Pilates improved sleep scores in 6 small trials, and evening exercise mostly didn't harm sleep, though vigorous exercise ending within an hour of bed might. No Pilates sleep trial has been done in nurses.
The Health and Safety Executive's tips for shift workers: "have a short sleep before your first night shift", "Daytime sleep is usually lighter, shorter and of poorer quality than night time sleep.", "avoid vigorous exercise before sleep as it is stimulating and raises the body temperature" and "take moderate exercise before starting work which may increase your alertness during the shift". NHS Employers adds a short nap on an authorised break and a free health assessment for night workers, and the NHS's insomnia advice says "do not exercise at least 4 hours before bed".
After a night shift, gentle lying and seated moves and slow breathing, not a hard class; harder sessions on days off or before a shift (our suggestion, from the guidance above).
Once you tell your employer in writing, they must assess the risks of your work for you, make sure you aren't sitting or standing for long periods or lifting heavy loads, adjust your conditions or hours if needed, and give you somewhere to rest, including lying down. NHS Employers lists limiting or stopping night shifts among possible changes.
The NHS says to keep up exercise you already do and not to take up new vigorous activity. Our Pilates in pregnancy guide has the swaps, such as less time flat on your back after the first trimester.
Source 95
The Finnish trial aimed for two sessions a week, then one supervised and one at home. Our suggestion is two sessions a week on days off or before a shift, and the 20-minute class after a shift when you want it. The NHS asks adults to do strengthening activity on at least 2 days a week.
A few standing moves on a break, such as calf raises, ankle circles or a shoulder roll, fit the NHS Staff Council's call for minibreaks to move and stretch (our suggestion). Breaks themselves come first.
Pelvic tilt into bridge, 6 slow reps (our Pilates for back pain class), a small range at first; knee fold, 2 sets of 5 to 10 each side, every other day (the move page's dose); dead bug heel taps, 6 each side (our Pilates for back pain class); bird dog, 5 each side, holding each for 3 breaths (our Pilates for back pain class), the Finnish trial's kneeling exercise; knee side plank, 2 holds of 20 s each side (our Pilates for tennis players class), an easier side bridge; glute bridge, 2 sets of 8 (our Pilates for varicose veins class); cat-cow, 8 waves, slower than feels natural (the move page's dose).
3D demoPelvic tilt into bridgeBeginner · No equipment
3D demoKnee foldBeginner · No equipment
3D demoDead bug heel tapsBeginner · No equipment
3D demoBird dogBeginner · No equipment
3D demoKnee side plankBeginner · No equipment
3D demoGlute bridgeBeginner · No equipment
3D demoCat-cowBeginner · No equipmentSlow calf raise, 2 sets of 10 to 15, a hand on the wall (our Pilates for varicose veins class); seated bent-knee calf raise, 15 (our calf pump exercises routine), on a break; ankle circles, 10 slow circles each way with each foot (the move page's dose); legs up the wall, 3 to 5 minutes, or legs on cushions (our Pilates for varicose veins class); wall calf stretch and soleus wall stretch, 30 s each leg (our Pilates for varicose veins class).
3D demoSlow calf raiseBeginner · A wall
3D demoSeated bent-knee calf raise (soleus raise)Beginner · A bench or box
3D demoAnkle circlesBeginner · No equipment
3D demoLegs up the wall (Viparita Karani)Beginner · A wall
3D demoWall calf stretch (gastrocnemius)Beginner · A wall
3D demoSoleus wall stretchBeginner · A wallClamshell, 10 each side (our Pilates for back pain class); side kick, 8 to 10 each side (the move page's dose); half-kneeling hip flexor stretch, 30 s each side (our Pilates for footballers class), padding the knee.
Chin tuck, 5 reps, 3 s hold (our Pilates for office workers class); thoracic rotation, 6 rotations per side, moving with the breath (the move page's dose); side-lying open book, 8 to 10 slow openings each side, pausing 2 seconds at the end (the move page's dose); band row, 2 sets of 10 to 15 (our Pilates for office workers class), with the band anchored to something fixed; wall angel, 8 slow reps (our Pilates for office workers class); Y-T-W raises, 5 of each shape (our Pilates for neck pain class), forehead on a folded towel; upper trap release, 2 slow holds of 30 seconds per side (the move page's dose).
3D demoChin tuckBeginner · No equipment
3D demoThoracic rotationBeginner · No equipment
3D demoSide-lying open bookBeginner · No equipment
3D demoBand rowBeginner · A band + An anchor point
3D demoWall angelBeginner · A wall
3D demoProne Y-T-W raisesBeginner · No equipment
3D demoUpper trap releaseBeginner · No equipmentLateral breathing, 5 to 8 breaths at the start of every session (the move page's dose); slow breathing, 2 minutes (our bedtime Pilates class); child's pose, 60 s (our Pilates for back pain class), knees wide if you need room.
Stop or shrink any move that sends pain, pins and needles or numbness further down your leg, as the back pain rule in the warning signs says. With sciatica, see our Pilates for sciatica guide.
Source 97
Keep to the lying and seated moves, with no hard trunk holds or loaded moves when you're exhausted (our suggestion), and don't drive when you feel sleepy.
Source 12
After the first trimester, keep time flat on your back to a few minutes or prop your upper body up, as the move pages say, and skip the legs-up rest if it makes you dizzy. Your employer's risk assessment covers lifting, standing and nights.
Source 95
With glaucoma, ask your eye doctor first, and don't raise your hips with high blood pressure that isn't under control, as the legs-up-the-wall page says.
With osteoporosis, peel up only part of the way in the pelvic tilt into bridge, as its page says.
Pad your knees for the all-fours moves, or do the bird dog standing at a wall (our suggestion); child's pose bends the knees deeply, so pad behind them or skip it with a knee injury, as its page says.
Make a move smaller or leave it out if it sends symptoms down your arm, as the arm rule in the warning signs says.
Source 98
Our 20-minute after-shift class puts a legs-up rest, a gentle lower back, the hips, the neck and shoulders and a wind-down together. On days off, use our Pilates for back pain or Pilates strength classes; the bedtime class is a wind-down, the varicose veins class and calf pump exercises suit tired, heavy legs, and the office, neck pain and neck and shoulder strength routines have more upper-back work. The pregnancy class has no lying on your back. If you'd rather do yoga, our yoga for nurses guide has its own after-shift class.
A gentle 20-minute Pilates class for after a shift: legs up, a gentle lower back, the hips, the neck and shoulders, and slow breathing to wind down for sleep.
20 minBeginner14 movesWallA gentle 15-minute Pilates-based routine for ongoing low back pain, built from neutral-spine moves with options for backs that dislike bending or arching.
15 minBeginner10 movesNo equipmentA slow 15-minute Pilates wind-down for the last hour before bed: slow breathing, small lying moves and a few minutes of stillness, with no effort or holds.
15 minBeginner9 movesFirm cushionA 25-minute Pilates class for varicose veins and heavy legs: calf raises to work the pump, mat work with your legs raised, side-lying hip work and legs up the wall.
25 minBeginner19 movesWall, bench or boxA 15-minute calf pump routine for varicose veins and heavy, swollen legs: ankle pumps, calf raises, a brisk walk, calf stretches and legs up to finish.
15 minBeginner10 movesBench or box, wallA 15-minute office Pilates class with no floor work: seated breathing and upper-back lifts, band and wall strength, standing legs and hips, and an unwind.
15 minBeginner15 movesBench or box, bandA 20-minute Pilates class for neck pain: head-supported core work, upper-back and shoulder-blade strength, gentle neck movement and slow breathing.
20 minBeginner15 movesWallDeep neck holds and shoulder-blade strength in under 20 minutes: one of the best-supported kinds of exercise for a stiff, sore neck.
18 minBeginner11 movesBand, anchor pointA 20-minute Pilates workout for any trimester: seated, standing, all-fours and side-lying moves, with no lying on your back or front and no jumping.
20 minBeginner15 movesWall, bench or boxA 30-minute Pilates strength class with dumbbells or a band: Pilates trunk work plus squats, lunges, rows and push-ups, each set taken until it is hard.
30 minIntermediate15 movesDumbbell, bandThe beginner Pilates plan builds the basics over 4 weeks, 3 days a week; fit it around your shifts, on days off.
This is general information, not a diagnosis. A&E means accident and emergency; in the US, call 911 for 999, and use your doctor's urgent line or urgent care for NHS 111.
Source 97
Source 97
The NHS says to go to A&E or call 999 (911 in the US) if you:
These can be signs of a serious back problem, cauda equina syndrome, which needs treating in hospital as soon as possible. "Do not drive to A&E. Ask someone to drive you or call 999 and ask for an ambulance."
Source 99
If your sciatica hasn't improved after a few weeks of looking after it at home, is getting worse, or is stopping you doing your normal activities. In many areas you can refer yourself to NHS physiotherapy for back problems.
Source 99
Some discomfort during exercise is fine, and it does not mean you are doing damage: the WHO counts "hurt does not necessarily mean harm" among the messages people with back pain need. Aim for pain you would call mild to moderate, no more than about 5 out of 10. It should settle within an hour or so, and your back should be no worse the next morning. If it is worse, do less next time (fewer reps, a smaller range, a lighter load), not nothing.
Leg symptoms are the exception: stop or shrink any movement that sends pain, pins and needles or numbness further down your leg. If leg symptoms move back towards your spine, that is a good sign, even if your back aches a little more for a while.
Source 97
Source 98
Source 98
Source 98
Arm symptoms are the exception. If an exercise sends pain, tingling or numbness further down your arm, or the extra symptoms last more than an hour afterwards, make the movement smaller or leave it out. (A hospital leaflet on nerve glides allows a short-lived rise in symptoms but not one lasting over an hour; the rest of this rule is this site's suggestion.)
Source 98
Pain and swelling in a leg with breathlessness or chest pain: a blood clot may have travelled to the lungs.
Throbbing pain and swelling in one leg, usually the calf or thigh, with red, blue or darkened skin or swollen veins: a possible blood clot (DVT).
Source 100
If standing all shift keeps getting harder week after week, despite breaks and comfortable shoes, see a GP or physiotherapist. In many areas you can refer yourself to NHS physiotherapy, and your manager or occupational health service can help with changes at work (our suggestion).
Stop exercising and get advice (in the US, call your obstetrician) if you have:
Before 12 weeks, contact your GP surgery or early pregnancy unit; from 12 to 19 weeks, your midwife or early pregnancy unit; from 20 weeks, your midwife or maternity unit. Always call 999 (911 in the US) if you think it's a life-threatening emergency. The NHS lists these among the symptoms to get help for:
Source 102
Contact your GP or midwife urgently if you have back pain in your second or third trimester, as it could be a sign of early labour, or back pain with a fever, bleeding from your vagina, pain when you pee, or pain under your ribs on one or both sides. Call 999 or go to A&E if you lose feeling in one or both legs, your bottom or your genitals.
Source 103
Don't drive when you feel sleepy. With confirmed sleep apnoea and excessive sleepiness, you must not drive until it's under control.
If you are thinking about suicide or can't keep yourself safe, call 999 or go to A&E. For urgent help, call Samaritans free on 116 123, any time, or in England call 111 and select the mental health option. In the US, call or text 988.
Call 999 if:
Call 999 or go to A&E (accident and emergency) straight away for severe difficulty breathing (gasping, choking or not able to get words out), a chest that feels tight or heavy, pain that spreads to your arms, back, neck and jaw, lips or skin turning very pale, blue or grey, or sudden confusion. If you're more short of breath than usual, or your heart is racing, fluttering or skipping beats, contact NHS 111.
Source 111
The PAR-Q+ (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire for Everyone) asks about a heart condition or high blood pressure, chest pain, dizziness or losing consciousness, other long-term conditions and their medicines, a bone or joint problem that activity could make worse, and being told to exercise only under supervision. If you answer yes to any, check with your GP or a qualified exercise professional first. If you're over 45 and not used to hard exercise, ask a qualified exercise professional before the hardest sessions, and delay if you're ill.
Source 112
You feel any pain or become unwell, as the NHS advises for its Pilates videos, and especially for chest pain or pressure, unusual breathlessness, dizziness or fainting. If you have a health problem, an injury or any symptoms, get advice from a healthcare professional, such as a GP, before you start.
Source 113
The NHS advises getting advice from a healthcare professional first if you have a health problem, an injury or symptoms, or have recently had a heart attack or an operation.
Source 113
Patient handling raises the risk whatever your technique or fitness, one-person repositioning went beyond what the spine tolerates in the lab, and the NHS Staff Council says "General fitness is not always a guarantee against injury". Equipment, staffing and safe systems of work are what cut handling injuries.
Training with or without devices didn't prevent back pain in a Cochrane review, and technique-based programmes had "no impact on working practices or injury rates". Training matters as part of a programme with equipment and risk assessment.
It's common, but the law and the Royal College of Nursing say patients shouldn't routinely be lifted by hand, programmes with equipment cut injuries, and exercise eases back pain a little. Pain that stops you working needs assessment and changes at work.
In the one good-sized trial, Pilates-type exercise alone eased pain by a small amount, and the bigger effect came with counselling. For back pain in general, Pilates helps about as much as other exercise.
Walking 9,360 steps on a shift isn't strength training (our reading). The NHS asks for strengthening on at least 2 days a week, and short strength sessions at work eased healthcare workers' pain.
Vigorous exercise close to sleep may delay it, but gentle moves and slow breathing, like the after-shift class, are a different thing (our suggestion).
The Finnish trial used mat exercises, and in young footballers the reformer did only a little better than the mat on a few tests.
It can help. In a Finnish trial of 219 women working in healthcare with recurring back pain, Pilates-type exercise after shifts, with back care counselling, reduced back pain and sick days. Exercise on its own made only a small difference, so use Pilates beside safe handling at work, not instead of it.
No study shows that. Patient handling raises the risk whatever your technique or fitness, and hoists, safe handling programmes and enough staff are what cut handling injuries.
About 3 in 4 nurses report a musculoskeletal problem in a year, the lower back most. Moving and handling patients, heavy workloads, long hours and high demands with little control all add to it, so it comes largely from the work.
In the UK, avoid manual handling that risks injury where reasonably practicable, assess and reduce the rest, and provide equipment and training. The Royal College of Nursing says no-one should routinely lift patients by hand; speak to your manager, occupational health or union representative if that isn't happening.
Not on its own: a Cochrane review found training with or without devices didn't prevent back pain. It works as part of a programme with equipment and risk assessment.
Moderate exercise before a shift may help you stay alert, and the Health and Safety Executive advises avoiding vigorous exercise before sleep. After a long or night shift, keep it gentle, like our 20-minute class.
It hasn't been tested in nurses. In other groups, Pilates improved sleep scores in small trials, and exercise looks promising for shift workers, but the evidence is weak.
Breaks, moving often, comfortable shoes and, for swelling, compression stockings, which helped in a trial of healthcare staff. Calf raises, ankle circles and lying with your legs up are in our class, and our varicose veins Pilates guide has more.
Both count as strengthening. Short strength sessions at work eased healthcare workers' pain in a Danish trial, and Pilates-type exercise helped in the Finnish one, so pick what you'll keep doing.
Usually, if you already do it: keep time on your back short after the first trimester and use the pregnancy swaps. Your employer must also assess your work, including lifting, standing and night shifts.
It's common, with about half of nurses reporting neck pain in a year. Upper-back and shoulder-blade moves, chin tucks and breaks help many people; numbness, weakness or pain spreading down an arm needs checking, as the warning signs say.
The Finnish trial aimed for twice a week. Our suggestion is two sessions a week on days off or before shifts, and the 20-minute class after shifts when you want it.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. If you are pregnant, have a health condition or have had recent surgery, check with a doctor, midwife or physiotherapist before starting, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
