Is this job dangerous to health

[annem]

Just wondering if the amount of walking we do day in and day out is dangerous to our health. They say walking is a great exercise and has many benefits, but is covering 8 miles per day 5 days a week healthy? I usually do 8 miles within a 4-4.30 hour period. Is this considered extreme or not? lol
Should I slow my pace down?
Since I had extra added to my walk (an extra 2 hours 30 walking at least per week) I have developed iron deficiency bordering on anaemia.
I have read that exercise, particularly high intensity and endurance types, increases iron losses by as much as 70%. Red blood cells also break down more quickly.
But... is walking 8 miles a day 5 days a week in a 4-hour period considered high intensity? Oh and carrying a heavy bag as well.
Does anyone monitor the health conditions posties suffer from? Just wondering if there are any common ones among us all that could be directly attributed to walking.

[SMS1969]

Stop carrying heavy bags and use a trolley.If you don’t you will definitely end up with deterioration in your back, knees, shoulders and feet.

[amco37]

During the pandemic when the workload increased dramatically, I developed quite severe anemia. If you are a woman it can be worse due to monthly bleeding. It's important to take a good quality supplement every day and slow down. Don't rush around as the morons in charge (including managers) couldn't care less about your health. We are just a cog in the profit-making machine. Profit comes before people in modern-day greedy Royal Mail.

[amco37]

P.S- I always tell friends and family (and customers) what it's like to work for this greedy company that couldn't care less about its people. I spread the word as far as I can. If anyone tells me they would like to work as a postie - I make sure I give them a dose of reality. So you want to be a modern-day 'donkey' and work for a company that takes pleasure from bullying and harassing you. And you want to sacrifice your health for what???
Yes, I am searching for another job

[pieoftheday]

Stop carrying heavy bags and use a trolley.If you don’t you will definitely end up with deterioration in your back, knees, shoulders and feet.

During the covid pandemic I used a trolley for about 18 months and found I ended up with either lower back pain or shoulder , elbow pain walking 10 miles a day is going to knacker most of us up if we do it long enough no matter what, we're doomed , doomed!!

[SMS1969]

Stop carrying heavy bags and use a trolley.If you don’t you will definitely end up with deterioration in your back, knees, shoulders and feet.

During the covid pandemic I used a trolley for about 18 months and found I ended up with either lower back pain or shoulder , elbow pain walking 10 miles a day is going to knacker most of us up if we do it long enough no matter what, we're doomed , doomed!!

Not sure if you mean a HCT, but I always find using a lwt helps.

[pieoftheday]

Stop carrying heavy bags and use a trolley.If you don’t you will definitely end up with deterioration in your back, knees, shoulders and feet.

During the covid pandemic I used a trolley for about 18 months and found I ended up with either lower back pain or shoulder , elbow pain walking 10 miles a day is going to knacker most of us up if we do it long enough no matter what, we're doomed , doomed!!

Not sure if you mean a HCT, but I always find using a lwt helps.

No not a HCT, its each to their own in the end,me an my partner have managed to tweat our loops so that the bags can be made relatively light. Mind you after 35 years I'm already knackered

[SSkUNkY]

Yes.

Hard labour for many years is almost certain to have an adverse effect upon your health.

[iHateD2Ds]

Would nt say this job is dangerous but doess have hazards!
Like any physical job it wears out your body eventually, health conditions like Plantar fasciitis and Mortons Neuroma are common in walkers.

[pieoftheday]

Stop carrying heavy bags and use a trolley.If you don’t you will definitely end up with deterioration in your back, knees, shoulders and feet.

During the covid pandemic I used a trolley for about 18 months and found I ended up with either lower back pain or shoulder , elbow pain walking 10 miles a day is going to knacker most of us up if we do it long enough no matter what, we're doomed , doomed!!

Not sure if you mean a HCT, but I always find using a lwt helps.

No not a HCT, its each to their own in the end,me an my partner have managed to tweak our loops so that the bags can be made relatively light. Mind you after 35 years I'm already knackered

[fb1969]

When I was a postie and anyone said about the job keeping me fit, I just used to reply that it may but that my joints were shot. It is five years since the Musculoskeletal Survey Report was published, I'd expect the issues to be getting worse now viewtopic.php?f=15&t=86990

If the link is too long, this is a summary

Most participants were male, just under 10% were female.

Ages were from under 24 to over 65 years, with the peak age group 45 – 55 years and a sharp drop off above this level.

There were a comparable number of participants above 55 years as below 35 years.

The most common delivery methods were shared van with a pouch or trolley and HCT walks. 56% of those with a shared van described their duty as a shared van and trolley or shared van with pouch and trolley.

Musculoskeletal Problems

68% of those surveyed reported pain or discomfort affecting their muscles, joints, neck or back, affected work and other regular activities.
77% of these had suffered from this discomfort for more than 3 months.
63% of these individuals said the pain was intermittent.
32% said pain and discomfort was constant.
21% said that they had taken time off due to aches and pains in the past 3 months.
63% said that their aches and pains were caused by work.
47% said that their aches and pain was made worse by work.
35% thought that their aches and pains affected their ability to work a great deal or quite a lot.
43% thought it affected their ability somewhat.
22% thought that they affected their ability to work very little or not at all.
Lower back, feet and knees were the most common areas affected as would be expected from sick absence data and other ergonomics studies. However, almost 40% of participants reported discomfort in their shoulders, and a significant proportion also reported aches and pains in the neck, upper back, ankles, hips, hands and arms.

[rambo1]

Just wondering if the amount of walking we do day in and day out is dangerous to our health. They say walking is a great exercise and has many benefits, but is covering 8 miles per day 5 days a week healthy? I usually do 8 miles within a 4-4.30 hour period. Is this considered extreme or not? lol
Should I slow my pace down?
Since I had extra added to my walk (an extra 2 hours 30 walking at least per week) I have developed iron deficiency bordering on anaemia.
I have read that exercise, particularly high intensity and endurance types, increases iron losses by as much as 70%. Red blood cells also break down more quickly.
But... is walking 8 miles a day 5 days a week in a 4-hour period considered high intensity? Oh and carrying a heavy bag as well.
Does anyone monitor the health conditions posties suffer from? Just wondering if there are any common ones among us all that could be directly attributed to walking.

Walking is not high intensity nor will it improve your cardiovascular system much. Your heart rate is most probably still under 100 when walking so it's not stressing that system much. What it is doing is wearing your joints out prematurely. Weight bearing exercise is good for bone density but the repeated nature of our job will wear your joints out earlier than an office job. If you have a good general diet there's no difference between office job and ours. You still get skinny people in offices. Also you would have more energy to actually do a higher level of cardio exercise when out of work, whereas we are generally too knackered. Even prepping a frame every morning is an asymmetrical motion which will wear out the preferred arm and shoulder before the other one and also create an imbalance. Same for towing a LWT if you use one, it tends to make you twisted but probably better than carrying a bag on one shoulder 5 hrs a day.
In short, yes, this job will fxxk you up.

[Shirtbuttons]

Not only bad backs, hernias, arthritis and bad knees, our office has a few now who have skin cancer. Out in the height of the sun in 80c + in madness. The climate is hotting up and what do we do? We go out later when the sun is hotter. Still it doesn’t matter. We are the peasants. We only make them the profit. We are easily replaced. We are just a number.

[Basildon Bond]

I have always said the job is "not walking". It's up and down driveways. Up and down steps and slopes. In and out of blocks of flats (high-rise or not). It's squatting down to those terrible low letterboxes or reaching up high to boxes mounted above shoulder level. It's opening and closing gates. It's squeezing past cars and shrubs on driveways. It's trying not to slip and jar your back on moss and algae covered steps and paths. When the weather is hot you're frying and exposed to UVA and UVB - nice tan, maybe skin cancer later on. When it's cold the barometric pressure drops and your joints can ache more or you can get chilblains. It's trying to not get your fingers bitten by dogs at the other side of the door or just having the letterbox catch your finger and/or fingernail. And all this with a tatty bag on your back that's seen better days where the strap is pressing on a nerve in your neck and adding to a chronic issue. Plus you carry a PDA somewhere on you, cards and pens and ID card in pockets, as well as your own personal mobile as backup. And you're in and out of the van - leaning in and grabbing a parcel and lifting it out using your back.

Anyone who (for leisure) walks 7, 8, 9, or 10 miles doesn't do what we do. Not five days a week. Not week in, week out.

If you asked me to go for a 10 mile walk and I could have my hands in my pockets or carry a little day rucksack - no problem. However, it wouldn't compare to the delivery job.

[pinstripe]

Not only bad backs, hernias, arthritis and bad knees, our office has a few now who have skin cancer. Out in the height of the sun in 80c + in madness. The climate is hotting up and what do we do? We go out later when the sun is hotter. Still it doesn’t matter. We are the peasants. We only make them the profit. We are easily replaced. We are just a number.

Due to the length of deliveries, you are also at risk of kidney and bladder problems and an increased risk of urinary tract infections.

No one in their right mind should consider a career as a postie. Twenty years ago they were doing studies to determine the impact on us of extending deliveries beyond two and a half hours, now we are looking at the likely prospect of six hours