If my back would ache this much right now if I had never been a nurse. So today I have been to work and to the supermarket to spend an amazing amount considering how little of any substance I bought. I have carried the shopping into the house and put everything away and then I have crawled around the floor wrapping presents. The latter might not have been the best way to do that particular task, but then I have never been one to make life easier for myself. My tree now looks lovely, with presents all around it. But I have serious back ache.

Back in the 1980s when I first became a nurse I was taught to lift patients manually. We did two kinds of lifts, both of which are pretty much outlawed now - the kind of drag up the bed lift and the Australian lift which actually was my favorite on account of the fact two of you could lift someone pretty heavy quite a long way up the bed. Both of these lifts are dangerous both for the patient (in terms of being dragged, the possibility of getting their shoulder’s dislocated and other injuries) and for the nurse. I didn’t see a hoist until I was in my second year, and that is only memorable because the patient who it was meant to be used on sat and cut up the sling used to support her with a pair of nail scissors. In the community during the late 80’s and early 90’s hoists appeared in peoples homes more and more and indeed legislation was brought in about how much we were allowed to lift. But in people’s homes they often like to sleep in their own (often double) bed and they bath in a normal bath and then there are leg ulcers and wounds to dress. Even though I had done all the training and knew how to safely move and handle my patients I was young and careless.

Before I left clinical nursing I had constant back pain. I never had time off or reported it to anyone medical but it was a constant. It was one of the indirect reasons I moved into a more office based job. Most of the time I have no problems, but the damage is done. When I go shopping for long periods, do gardening and wrap presents I suffer. It is a legacy of being a nurse in the 1980’s but tomorrow I’ll be fine.