> Even younger people will be damaged over time if overloaded.  The damage
> due to excess weight on joints, and particularly the lower back is
> cumulative.

Excellent point!

I worked one summer at Midwest Grain (Kansas) loading 140 pound bags in box
cars. The bags came down a chute and you stopped the bag with your hands ,
then turned and let the bag rest on your shoulder and then walk to the end
of the box car and drop the bag in place.

Two of us in the box car. It was kind of funny ( back then) to watch the new
hires as the bag usually landed on top of the new guy on the floor until 
they
figured out that 140 pounds coming down a chute is hard to stop.

One week I had and old guy ( I think he was around middle thirties but
seemed ancient to a 16 year old)  in the box car.

About noon he said he had hurt his back so he went to the company doctor and 
I worked by myself until he
returned. When he climbed back in the boxcar around 3 in the afternoon. I
asked what the doctor said. He said the company doctor had taken and X ray
and showed where the discs in his lower back were almost gone on right side
of the disc.
The doctor said loading bags using only one shoulder caused the problem and
to go back to work and catch the 140 pound bags on his left shoulder.
Problem solved the Doctor said!

I learned a valuable lesson that day about company doctors.


> Young guys tend to be macho and will lift things that are too heavy in
> ways that strain their backs, even if told not to.

I was one of those guys so I am always watching to stop such behavior. One
of my best friends was in the 101 Airborne in Viet Nam. In boot camp they
had to jump from height of fifty feet with only boots .
You landed right no problem. Wrong you had an injury. My friend thought me 
to
jump from around 20 feet. I amazed the "old Timers" with my jumping off a
semi load of bees.

As I got older I finally dropped the practice after a couple of severely
sprained ankles!

bob

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