By Jasper Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: July 3, 2013
The life of a student is all about survival.
A few aspects of this survival immediately come to mind: financial and academic struggle, and the psychological strain of stress as we battle year in and year out to juggle work, school, and, ideally, a social life.
After a recent talk with the athletic therapists in the UFV athletic department, I have discovered another aspect of life that a student must “survive.”
Tyne Campbell, the athletic therapist for the varsity Cascades in the 2013-2014 year, (temporarily replacing Sarah Ekert who is on maternity leave)says that the student lifestyle often leads to chronic body issues.
“The biggest issue for students is the constant hunched over position they are in as they study and take notes,” Campbell said. “It can lead to muscle tightness, which can cause further back and neck problems.”
He noted that the constant posture that students generally assume will cause tightness particularly in the chest, shoulders, glutes and hamstrings.
This tightness will lead to chronic back and neck pain over the course of the school year. As we cram for midterms and finals we are often tightening our bodies up. Just another obstacle for the student to overcome. Add it to the list.
Fortunately for the everyday student, the solution to back and neck pain is often a much easier fix than those student loans that are piling up. While debt is guaranteed to haunt many students for years after graduation, the chronic body issues associated with the student lifestyle don’t have to follow you for years to come if addressed properly. According to Campbell, a few small changes to your everyday study schedule could make all the difference.
“Studying in 45-minute intervals, with 15-minute breaks to stretch and loosen up would be an effective way to prevent too much tightness from occurring,” he explained. For many, this may be a bit of a change from the six-hour cramming binges that often occur in crunch time late in the semester.
Considering it is mid-summer now, we have plenty of time to adjust to new routines before we have to crack open the books again. Campbell advised that stretching the chest and hamstrings during those 15-minute breaks would likely be the best way to keep your body limber.
What can you do now to prepare for the upcoming rush of papers and readings this fall? According to Campbell, one of the best things you can do to take care of yourself is simply stay active.
“Yoga classes are great, some strengthening is important, but generally staying active is the most important thing,” he added.
This comes as pretty simple advice to alleviate an issue that many students quietly suffer from over the course of their academic journey, but the majority of students are without this knowledge (excluding those in the kinesiology department who are collectively shaking their heads in disbelief that this is not common knowledge).
Small changes can be the most difficult to make, but these small changes can also pay big dividends. As a student who suffers back pain nearly every semester, I can say that I will be taking Campbell’s advice to heart and hopefully I’ll be pain-free this year.
Following this productive visit with Campbell, I might just have to come back next week for a solution to my financial pain. One step at a time in the eternal student struggle for survival!
