BIOKINETIX Blog

How Effective Is Your Pre-Shift Stretching Program?

Stretching programs are often thought of as a “quick fix” to address increased rates of soft-tissue injuries. While pre-shift preparation continues to be an important component of a comprehensive safety program, there are better ways to make those few minutes more valuable to the employee and to the company.  Based on our 15 years of helping companies develop best practices, here are four key principles we’d suggest considering—whether you’re looking to implement a pre-shift stretching program, or enhance an existing one:

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Early Intervention At Work: Supporting Employee Self-Care

As one of the most significant public health challenges of our time, preventable health conditions continue to drive unprecedentedly high rates of injuries, missed work days, and premature deaths—yet the CDC reports that Americans are only using preventive services at about half the recommended rate. Why are these services not being utilized? The problem is often […]

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What Safe + Sound Week Means To Us

At BIOKINETIX, our goal is to help businesses show their commitment to safety. The creators of both OSHA’s Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs and NSC’s Journey to Safety Excellence have identified 3 key components that are essential to the success of any occupational safety program: Management leadership Worker participation A systematic approach to […]

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The Latent Risk of Obesity in the Workplace

Managing obesity among the working population has remained a pressing issue for employers. The relationship between obesity, work, and health status is complex. In addition to direct health risks such as type II diabetes, heart disease, and osteoarthritis, obesity exacts far-reaching consequences on an occupational level with increasing medical expenditures, lost time, and presenteeism.

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For Arthritis Patients, Exercise Is The Best Medicine

Each year, May is recognized as National Arthritis Awareness Month. Arthritis has remained the leading cause of disability in the nation for a number of years—over 50 million adults are currently diagnosed, and this number is expected to grow to 67 million by the year 2030. Given the prevalence of this disease and its impact on quality of life, it is now more important than ever to promote awareness of the role of exercise in mitigating arthritis symptoms.

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Why Dehydration Is An Occupational Hazard

The symptoms of dehydration are recognizable to most: increased thirst, dry mouth, and even a headache are the body’s more obvious ways of signaling when to refill that water bottle. Less obvious, however, are the gradual impairments to central nervous system function. In the workplace setting, some may be tempted to “work through it” and delay water breaks to avoid interrupting their job tasks—but allowing dehydration to escalate ultimately compromises the ability to work safely and accurately. Here’s why optimal fluid intake is a key aspect of productivity and occupational safety, along with best practices to keep your employees properly hydrated.

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Both Feet on The Ground: The Risks of Occupational Standing

In the context of occupational health, standing is often framed as something employees aren’t getting enough of. This applies largely to sedentary work environments, where standing desks have become a popular intervention to get workers out of their seats and mitigate the physical effects of sitting. That’s not to deny the benefits of standing—it allows for physical freedom and greater mobility. And compared with the debilitating effects of slips, trips, and falls in the workplace, standing for long hours at a time seems a mild risk at best. However, the evidence shows that for industrial workers, prolonged standing can be equally as harmful as prolonged sitting. (more…)

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Good Nutrition Boosts Employee Productivity

It’s no secret that when employees show up to work at less than 100%, they’re less engaged and less productive. Presenteeism is more than just working while sick—contributing causes such as stress, mood disorders, or fatigue are often underreported and may not necessarily be related to work. Although sometimes difficult to quantify, poor on-the-job performance […]

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Why Exercise Belongs in the Workplace

Although the physical benefits of exercise are already familiar to most, new evidence suggests that combining exercise and the workplace has the greatest potential to maximize employee performance. The strongest support for this approach can be found in a recent study comparing the effects of work-based versus home-based exercise on work ability. Both programs incorporated […]

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