Moving Tips: Lifting and Carrying techniques

The highest cause of injury during any move is lifting heavy objects, like couches, refrigerators, televisions, etc. Many people opt to use a professional moving company to help them avoid injury and complete a stress-free move from one location to another. All My Sons Moving & Storage Knoxville provides you with a team of trained professionals, ready to lift and transport the most difficult objects in your home.

With years of experience and thousands upon thousands of completed moves, our team has compiled the most important lifting and carrying techniques to eliminate moving injuries and ensure your relocation is an easy one. The following will help ensure that moving is done as safely and practically as possible.

Preparing for Heavy Lifting While Moving

First, prepare your items. We recommend you don’t just start lifting heavy items without a plan in place. Prepare your smaller items by ensuring weight is evenly distributed in boxes – safeguarding fragile items from being crushed by bigger, heavier items.

Extra lifting tips: Hydration is key! Since lifting heavy items is technically an exercise, it can’t hurt to stretch beforehand, and stay hydrated during the process.

Check out our Knoxville moving company’s favorite articles on preparing to lift heavy items in your home:

Back Injury Prevention – This lifting guide has good advice on warming up for lifting.
Worker Safety – This guide addresses many ways to prepare for properly lifting heavy items in the work place.
Safe Lifting Procedures – How to prepare for lifting.
Lifting Health & Safety – This overview has great ways to prepare for lifting while moving.

Proper Lifting Techniques

Once you’ve prepared for the task, it’s time to go over the proper lifting techniques. Lifting and loading objects may not be a renowned art form, but there are a few different ways to make it easier for everyone, and reduce the chance of moving injuries. A major carrying technique is to always lift with your legs, never with your back or lower spine. Always bend at the knees; bending at the waist puts strain on your lower back. It’s best practice to keep objects below waist level, even if they do feel relatively light. Repeatedly carrying light items over the course of a day can cause just as many risks as lifting a heavy item improperly for a few minutes or seconds.

When lifting heavy items with another person or several people, it’s important to ensure the weight is evenly distributed. Always try to position yourself as close to the object as possible, rather than adding unnecessary strain to your arms or hands. As previously mentioned, bend at the knees, and make sure to keep your feet shoulder length apart. This will help to distribute the weight of heavy objects across the body, as opposed to keeping your feet too close together.

Here are some of our favorite articles on lifting tips:

Lifting Lessons - Simple advice for how to lift and move materials.
Safe Lifting & Moving Techniques – Basic steps for the safe lifting and handling of objects and packages.
Lifting & Moving Objects – A concise guide to lifting and moving heavier objects like furniture.
Lifting, Moving, and Carrying – This guide has a lot of information on what type of technique is best depending what one is lifting.
Safe Lifting Techniques – A start to finish guide to safely moving objects.
Neck -safe lifting techniques – Lifting Properly to Avoid Neck Pain.

Avoid Improper Moving

Improper moving can contribute to numerous moving injuries. Lifting several small packages over the course of a day can lead to a week of soreness. Failing to keep an object close to the body while lifting can result in twisting or pulling muscles and tendons. The most common lifting injuries are to the spine, back, and neck – which can result in long-term discomfort. It is simply not worth the risk of attempting to lift and move heavy items without proper technique, or the help of trained moving professionals.

Here are some of our favorite articles on preventing injury while moving:

Preventing Musculoskeletal Disorders – This guide shows several ways to prevent muscle, and bone, problems when lifting in the workplace.
Herniated Disk – One spinal risk that can come from improper lifting.
Hernia – What it is and how to treat it.

Using the Right Tools for the Job
Last but certainly not least, make sure you are always using the right tools for the job. There are several tools and services available to those who need to lift, move, and transport heavy objects from one location to another. We recommend using braces, back straps, and dollies to better distribute to weight. Ramps and lifts on the back of moving trucks can also ease the strain of lifting heavy items into a vehicle. All My Sons Moving & Storage has a team of movers that can easily handle pianos, cars, large appliances, and more.

Here are our favorite articles on helpful moving tools:

Simple Machines – Many the simple machines you learned in science class are practical on moving day.
Lifting and Hauling Tools – Simple and modern tools to aid in lifting.
Chain Hoists & Pullers – This long-used family of tools can make moving much easier.

At All My Sons Moving & Storage, our team of professional Knoxville movers take every precaution to ensure no injuries on moving day, and that your items are safely packed, moved, and unpacked efficiently. Don’t risk any moving injuries. Move with us and stay stress-free.