6 routine veterinary tasks that can strain the body and how to reduce injury risk

Exam room and treatment area work asks a lot of the body. In the latest episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success, Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, founder of Project Vetspan, and cohost Jennifer Edwards, DVM, PCC, CPC, ELI-MP, a leadership coach, discuss the clinical tasks behind that load.¹ Shaw shared that if he photographed the positions clinicians work in throughout a day, “so many postures are actually provocative tests for nerve injury and tendon injury.”¹

1. Getting up and down off the floor

Floor exams mean kneeling, rising, and kneeling again. Shaw names "the up and down off of a hard floor, kneeling and bending and twisting to the side" as part of what makes the physical demands of veterinary work unusual compared with other jobs.¹

• What helps: When an exam has to happen on the floor, sitting on the floor was associated with a lower posture risk score than kneeling or squatting in an observational study of veterinarians and veterinary technicians in Ohio. Of the 11 representative kneeling tasks the researchers analyzed, 82% were rated high or very high risk.² Seagren et al recommend knee pads when kneeling cannot be avoided, a stool or chair for floor exams of larger animals, and adjustable-height lift tables that larger dogs can walk onto before the table is raised.²

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2. Holding static positions through dentals

Dentistry and some exams require holding awkward postures in place. Shaw says these positions are "not efficient for muscular activation [or] for sustained positioning." Viewed through a therapist's lens, he says, some resemble a nerve tension test "that's intentionally stressing your median nerve."¹

• What helps: Seagren et al recommend surgical or dental loupes to reduce extreme neck flexion, a recommendation they based on research in human dental personnel.² They also recommend adjustable-height tables and adjustable stools or chairs so procedures can be done seated; in their observations, using a chair's back support improved trunk posture scores.²

3. Bending and twisting for underbelly exams

Body weight and patient weight compound in low, rotated positions. "Dealing with a 50-pound animal is not easy, and dealing with that animal in all sorts of kneeling, half kneeling, bending, twisting, looking under bellies, and doing dentals is not easy," Shaw says.¹

• What helps: Standing with the trunk bent more than 20° was a common higher-risk posture in the Ohio study, observed mainly during physical exams of dogs.² Using an adjustable-height lift table generally reduced back and neck flexion for the examiner and reduced back flexion and arm strain for the person restraining the animal.²

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4. Restraining patients that won't hold still

Unlike a box on the floor, a patient may wiggle, shift, or try to bite. "The German shepherd may not be quite so content on staying perfectly still," Shaw says.¹ Edwards also compares the work to "a game of Twister" and notes that when a large dog suddenly jerks or turns to bite, the handler has to increase restraint mid-task.¹

• What helps: Shaw says the responsibility falls on the clinician: "It's on you to make the situation as ideal as possible for you."¹ Research also suggests handling technique can affect injury risk. In a 2025 survey of 113 small animal general practices in the US and Canada, practices where not every staff member was certified in a stress-reducing handling program, such as Fear Free, Low Stress Handling, or Cat Friendly were 3.5 times more likely to report patient-inflicted injuries once a month or more than practices where all staff were certified.³ The study was cross-sectional, and the authors write that it is possible such training could make workplaces safer.³ The American Animal Hospital Association states that manual restraint and forceful handling raise injury risk for staff and patients, and recommends low-stress handling training, basket muzzle training, and anxiolytics or chemical restraint when needed.⁴

5. Reaching across the body to move a patient

Shaw uses this as his example of poor body mechanics: standing in one spot and reaching across the body to grab and reposition a patient changes the body's mechanics. Working with the arms extended in front of the body was also among the stressful postures researchers commonly observed in Ohio veterinary practices.²

• What helps: Shaw recommends getting close to the patient first, then lifting with the spine kept erect. "The closer we are to something, the less demanding it is on our body if we're going to pick it up off the floor," he says.

6. Carrying sedated patients on stretchers

Edwards recalls moving a 200-lb sedated dog to surgery with 4 people, each holding a corner of a stretcher. No one lifted the full weight, she says, but the corner handles put the hands together and the shoulders out of position for strength.¹ She also notes that not every practice has a gurney.

• What helps: Edwards says she believes practices should have gurneys. For lifts that cannot be avoided, Shaw says yoga, walking, and mobility work are worthwhile but do not substitute for strength. "It is strength that is going to get you through that," he notes.

What Shaw recommends

Shaw says good ergonomics and body mechanics help but cannot offset these demands on their own. "The number one thing people can do is to have a consistent strength training program," he says.

Edwards adds that the damage is not always tied to a single event: "Sometimes it's that slow accumulation that we may not even know is happening."

References

1. Shaw A, Edwards J, Bautista-Alejandre A. Q&A on physical pain in veterinary medicine and how strength training can help. dvm360. October 12, 2026. Accessed October 19, 2026. https://www.dvm360.com/view/q-a-on-physical-pain-in-veterinary-medicine-and-how-strength-training-can-help
2. Seagren KE, Sommerich CM, Lavender SA. Musculoskeletal discomfort in veterinary healthcare professions. Work. 2022;71(4):1007-1027. doi:10.3233/WOR-205043
3. Everett E, Pavlovsky G, Springer C, Albright J. Practice-wide certification in stress-reducing animal care lowers the rate of patient-inflicted injuries to veterinary staff in small animal general practices. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2025;264(2):163-170. doi:10.2460/javma.25.05.0325
4. Humane restraint of animals. American Animal Hospital Association. Accessed October 19, 2026. https://www.aaha.org/about-aaha/aaha-position-statements/humane-restraint-of-animals/