Lift with confidence: The expert guide to safely removing heavy objects from your car’s trunk
How To Lift Items Safely From Your Car Trunk
In this Technique Tuesday video, Preferred Physical Therapy shares a simple safety tip for lifting boxes, groceries, holiday items, and other heavy objects from a car trunk. Instead of showing a plain transcript, this section breaks the video into helpful moments readers can scan quickly.
Video Summary
This video explains how to lift items in and out of a car trunk without putting extra strain on the back. The main advice is to avoid twisting, bending, and lifting at the same time. Viewers are encouraged to square up to the item, bring it close to the body, bend the knees, and use the hips, glutes, and hamstrings to lift more safely.
Key Points Covered
- Avoid twisting, bending, and lifting at the same time.
- Square your body toward the item before lifting.
- Pull the item close to your body first.
- Bend your knees instead of locking them straight.
- Use your hips, glutes, and hamstrings to protect your back.
Clean Video Breakdown
Welcome back to Technique Tuesday. This video shares one more tip for anyone out shopping and moving things in and out of the trunk. The goal is to show how to do it safely, especially when handling heavier items.
When lifting heavy items, it is important to bend and lift properly. Poor lifting mechanics can place more stress on the body and increase the risk of discomfort or injury.
Before lifting a box or item from the trunk, pay attention to your body position. The hardest habit to avoid is twisting, bending, and lifting all at the same time.
Do not combine twisting, bending, and lifting. That combination can put extra strain on the back, especially when the item is heavy or positioned deep inside the trunk.
Instead, square your body toward the item you are lifting or moving. Try to ease the item as close to your body as possible before lifting it.
One common problem is lifting from a deep trunk. When an item sits far inside, many people reach over the bumper and pull from an awkward position.
A safer approach is to get as close to the trunk or bumper as possible. You can even rest your knees against the bumper, bend from a better position, grab the item, and pull it closer to your body.
Bringing the item closer gives your body better leverage. This makes the lift safer and easier on the back because you are not forcing the spine to do all the work from a stretched position.
If something is far inside the trunk, avoid locking your knees and reaching all the way in. That position places more strain on the back.
Bend your knees slightly and lean into the bumper. This allows you to use the glutes, hips, hamstrings, and other large muscle groups that are better suited for lifting.
Using these bigger muscles helps protect the back. It also reduces the chance of lifting from a bent and twisted position, which can lead to back pain.
Keep the item close, lock your knees gently into the bumper for support, bring the item toward you, and then use your glutes to lift it up.
These simple lifting tips can help you stay safer during shopping trips, errands, and the holiday season.
Main Takeaway: Safe trunk lifting starts with body position. Square up to the item, bring it close, avoid twisting, and use your legs and hips instead of relying only on your back.