Another in our series on wearing while injured, this time we look at bad backs. Previous posts on the topic include shoulder injuries.

Does superman tossing make you double over in pain? Does a dull ache start up in your lower vertabrae as soon as you pick up a ring sling? Welcome to the world of back injury! In this post we’ll look at prevention and cure.

Prevention

Back injuries come in many shapes and sizes, but some simple rules apply to help avoid those occasional problems caused by babywearing in the first place:

1. Start slow. Don’t start tandem wearing your 20kg preschooler at the same time you start wearing you 10kg toddler. If you’re new to babywearing or have taken an extended break, let your body get used to the weight and start out for short periods at a time.
2. Lift your child carefully. Some of our wearees can be impressively heavy, others are literally light-weights; but lifting your child is something you do repeatedly every day. Keep your child close to you so that your center of gravity isn’t pulled off balance.
3. Bend from the knees, don’t use your lower back as a lever.
4. Avoid doing dumb things. Don’t play twister while babywearing. It will be a disaster. Albeit a hilarious one.

Don’t forget that babywearing is not often a cause of back injury if you use your common sense. Thanks to all that marvellous weight bearing exercise, babywearing strengthens the muscles responsible for your core stability, actually helping to avoid back injury. Carrying a child in a supportive carrier is a lot easier on the back than carrying a child in arms for the same length of time. Of course, back carries are also great for encouraging good posture!

While you’re waiting to be cured

If you have an underlying back injury, then professional help is your best option. However, to support the healing of the affected area, there are a number of things you can do while babywearing.

1. Only wear what feels good. If front carries are painful, then avoid them. If one-shoulder carries leave you limping, then switch to the two-shouldered variety. When wrapping, carries with multiple layers will generally be more supportive than single-layer carries.
2. Don’t be afraid to ask for help to get your child onto your back. For many, lifting the child is too much of a strain, however, wearing the child is OK. If you do ask for help, make sure your helper knows exactly what they should be doing and exactly when to stop “helping” with straps and tails.
3. Wear carriers that are supportive for the weight you’re carrying. Some brands of carriers are known to be more supportive than others. Do your research, ask plenty of questions, borrow some if you can (see our loaner’s database) and find the right one for you.
4. Remember that rest may be the best cure. Less babywearing in the short-term may mean extending your babywearing well into your child’s preschool years.

Have you battled a back injury? Did you babywear while injured? What helped for you? Leave a comment and let us know!

This is the first in a series of posts aimed at helping parents with special needs. Here, we look at babywearing with a shoulder injury.

You’d like to wear your baby or older child, but red-hot pain is holding you back. Depending on the extent of your injury, it may be possible for you to wear your child while supporting the healing of the afflicted area. In this post, I’ll take you through babywearing with an injured shoulder(s). It’s an area of personal experience for me. My right shoulder has had (at various times) bursitis, tendonitis, a thinned distal portion of the rotator cuff, dense calcifcation in the tendons, possible cartilage damage and “changes to the tendonopathy of the region”, whatever that means. I didn’t understand much of the preceding, but my GP summed it up nicely when she looked at the xrays: “this shoulder is stuffed“.

If you have any injury, shoulder or otherwise, it’s important to define exactly what the problem is. I’m going to divide the possible problems into two areas: reduced range of movement and reduced ability to weight-bear. Each of these can occur independently or together, but the consequences for babywearing are quite diffferent.

Reduced Range of Movement

A reduced range of movement can occur for many reasons, but the main consequence for babywearing is difficulty in getting the child into the carrier in the first place. In this case, the simpler the better. In my experience with shoulder injuries, long wraps were disastrous- passing fabric to and fro was very painful and practically impossible. Simpler carries and carriers like short wraps, mei tais or SSCs were easier to get on with less pain. Ring slings and pouches may also be an option if only one shoulder is injured and you can bear weight on the uninjured shoulder.

When wrapping, your strategy depends on what portions of your range of movement are affected. Carries starting with a chestbelt may provide support while you wrap through your available range of movement. Alternatively, back carries tied under the wearees bottom may be impossible.

Lifting a child onto your back may be difficult in itself. It may be worthwhile reviewing other options if your regular method doesn’t work. Superman tossing is my usual method of initiating a back carry, but when lifting my arm above my head was intensely painful, lifting 9kg of baby didn’t seem sensible. The hip scooting method proved to be an acceptable compromise.

Reduced ability to bear weight on the affected shoulder

Let me be very clear: if it’s painful to wear your child, it may be wise not to do so if you want the affected area to heal. However, if wearing is important to you, there may be ways to get around the problem if you are unable to bear weight on the affected area. There are several options:

1. Avoid the area altogether. If you have two injured shoulders, it may be well worth looking into torso carries and carriers, which will eliminate any weight on your shoulder. These include torso carries with long, short wraps and straight-strapped podaegi. If you have a single injured shoulder, you have the additional option of one-shoulder carries in a short wrap, ring sling or pouch and modifying certain wrap carries (such as the BWCC with chestbelt) to avoid the affected shoulder (this was my personal favourite for extended carries. If anyone wants to know how it’s done, hit me up in the comments section!).

2. Reduce the weight on the affected area by distributing it to other parts of your body. Depending on the extent of your injury, you may still choose to bear weight on the affected shoulder(s). Carriers such as SSCs, chunei and mei tais tied tibetan or with straps crossed in front will distribute weight to your hips and across your chest, reducing the weight on your shoulders. Wrap carries with chest belts, tied tibetan or tied at the waist will do the same.

3. Teach your partner to babywear, put your feet up and wait to get better. More seriously, you may need to re-evaluate your babywearing goals. In my case, it became apparent that attempting to tandem wear 20kg+ of children at once was no longer the best option. I bought a better stroller and put babywearing on the needs-only list for awhile. It doesn’t make me a bad person! And, as a result, I’m now able to lift a coffee cup without wincing.  It was one of my better decisions!

Hopefully, this post gave you some ideas for babywearing with a shoulder injury. Look out for our next installment on babywearing with a back injury.

Have you continued to babywear with an injury or disability? What were the challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? Leave a comment and let us know!