Tradies are extremely susceptible to injuries in their line of work and research shows a scary number of workers are missing time. Sean Carroll finds out what hipages is doing to help them out.

The everyday lifting, bending and twisting that a tradie’s job requires is causing long-lasting effects on their bodies, according to the We’ve Got Your Back report by Australia’s largest tradie marketplace, hipages.

Some see the building and construction industry as a young man’s game, a place to may hay while the sun shines. It doesn’t have to be like this. By caring for your body, you can take care of your most important asset.

The report finds that almost three in four (71%) tradies have experienced work-related aches, pains or injuries over the past year. Almost half (45%) of all tradies surveyed had to take time off work as a result, while nearly one third (28%) couldn’t afford to.

The hipages report asked how much time tradies had to take off due to a work-related injury, and the average response was over two weeks per year (11.2 days), resulting in a potential annual loss of income of up to $4,144 when using the Builders Academy Tradie Salary Guide 2022. Additionally, 71% of tradies admit they’re unsure of what they can do to avoid aches, pains and injuries at work.

Following on from the results of the report, hipages has partnered with leading occupational physiotherapist, Dave Hall, to create a bespoke physio routine targeting the areas tradies feel pain the most: the lower back (47%), full back (40%), shoulders (29%), knees (26%) and neck (24%).

“This specifically engineered routine has been designed for all tradies across the industry, with consideration of their job environments and workplace practices,” Dave says.

“Using minimal space and equipment, the exercises are suitable to do at home and on site. If tradies take just ten minutes a day to complete this, it will make a huge difference to their physical health.”

A lot of big construction sites have mandatory stretching programs but there aren’t as many resources available for the companies working in smaller residential sites, according to hipages chief customer officer Stuart Tucker.

“These tradies in the home improvement industry are expected to take it upon themselves to look after their bodies, but we know a lot of them don’t have the time to after this research. There’s also a bit of a stigma around it,” he says.

“There’s a notion that tradies are supposed to be ‘tough’ and to put up with aches and pains on the job, so you don’t often see stretching or warming up on site. There’s a responsibility to ensure that all tradies feel safe, so that’s why we’ve designed this physio routine that we hope will bring tradies together on site to just take ten minutes to look after their bodies.”

The seven exercises can be found on the hipages website and are designed to target all the main parts of the body where tradies feel the most pressure, including the neck, back, arms, core, glutes and calves.

The leg pretzel (cover image) is suitable for home, either before or after work, and doesn’t require any equipment. It’s a great stretch to help loosen and warm up the gluteal and hamstring muscles. These muscles typically get upset with all the heavy lifting required on site and better flexibility will help reduce the risk of injury.

Once in the position, flex the toes backward on the straight leg and feel the “ahhh” feeling as you enjoy a hammy stretch (below).

The next exercise, aptly named the worksite waltz, can be done absolutely anywhere and at any time. By rocking forward and backward nice and slowly between the heels and toes, tradies can stretch their calf muscles.

With a lot of time spent on their feet, this exercise promotes blood circulation from the lower legs to the heart and limits the risk of deep vein thrombosis.

Suitable for on site or at home, the crowbar curl is a great way of keeping up the dynamics (movement ability) of the median nerve which runs through the arm. Stretching this part of the body can help prevent pain issues like tendonitis and tennis elbow, the latter being something that tradies are well aware of.

To do the crowbar curl exercise, the tradie puffs their chest out while standing tall and holds their hands out with their palms facing up. Gently push the palms away from the body with the fingers pointing down and hold for a few seconds before returning to the starting position.

“We know tradies have some of the busiest and most physically demanding jobs in Australia, so it’s important that they have an understanding of how to properly warm up, strengthen and stretch their bodies,” Dave says.

Stuart adds that the Australian workforce is seeing several corporate organisations granting employees additional leave for all sorts of issues, so it’s surprising that we’re not seeing a strong push to give tradies physical rest days.

“A reason for this may be that tradies are so busy at the moment,” he explains.

“It’s hard for them to take time off even if they do have the option of additional leave. We want to empower tradies to take care of themselves from the very beginning to help prevent unwanted time off the tools.”

The We’ve Got Your Back report shows that 80% of tradies admit that they could be doing to more keep fit and healthy. Alongside this, 87% agreed that they should take more time to look after themselves both in and outside of work and, scarily, 75% say they have overdone it at work before and regret doing so after.

Small businesses and sole operators don’t have the same luxury as the bigger companies as they’re often not able to afford stretching and physio programs, but that’s not an excuse to do nothing.

This free resource through hipages gives tradies an idea of how to get their bodies ready for day-to-day labour-intensive work. Just ten minutes out of their morning routine could really make a difference in the long term.

The full range of exercises for tradies by Dave Hall and hipages can be found here.