Nurses devote their working lives to caring for others, but in the pressure of a busy shift, it can be all too easy for our own health to come second.

Every shift can place physical demands on our bodies, whether through moving and handling patients, pushing equipment, working in awkward postures, spending long periods on our feet, or working at display screen equipment that is not set up correctly.

Back injuries remain one of the most significant occupational health issues affecting the healthcare workforce. While work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) have declined significantly since the early 1990s, they continue to affect hundreds of thousands of workers every year and contribute to millions of working days lost.

According to HSE statistics for 2024/25, work-related stress, depression and anxiety remain the leading cause of work-related ill health, affecting an estimated 964,000 workers. Musculoskeletal disorders remain the second largest cause, affecting around 511,000 workers.

While comprehensive workforce data are not reported consistently across all UK nations, available evidence demonstrates the significant impact of musculoskeletal ill health on the nursing workforce.

For example, NHS England staff sickness absence data for staff groups covering RCN membership showed during June 2026 alone, that 65,175 full-time equivalent (FTE) days were recorded as back pain and a further 156,741 FTE days were recorded as musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), highlighting the significant impact of musculoskeletal conditions on the healthcare workforce.

For nursing staff, the consequences can reach far beyond physical pain. A back injury can affect your confidence, independence, finances, relationships and quality of life. It may also make it difficult, or even impossible, to continue in a profession you care deeply about.

Protecting your back means protecting not only your health and career, but also your ability to keep providing the safe, compassionate care that patients rely on.

Why do back injuries occur?

Back injuries rarely result from a single event. More often, they develop gradually as repeated physical demands accumulate over time. Poor posture, unsafe manual handling techniques, previous injuries, pregnancy, menopause and underlying health conditions can all influence how the body responds to these demands and increase the risk of back problems.

For nursing staff, these risks can be made worse by demanding workloads, long periods on our feet, frequent patient handling and too little time to rest and recover during busy shifts. These are pressures that many nurses will recognise from their own working lives.

The physical demands of care delivery are only part of the picture. Research shows that physical and psychological risks often interact, with fatigue, stress and workload pressures potentially increasing the likelihood of injury. This highlights the importance of addressing both the physical challenges of patient care and the psychological pressures associated with increasingly complex healthcare environments.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has long highlighted the risks that back injuries pose to nursing staff. Its guidance on moving and handling emphasises that employers have a legal duty to protect staff from manual handling injuries. It also states that nursing staff should not routinely lift or manually move patients where doing so presents a risk of harm.

The law is clear. Employers must first seek to avoid manual handling activities wherever reasonably practicable. Where patient handling tasks cannot be avoided, they must be properly assessed and supported through appropriate equipment, safe systems of work and effective training for staff.

The personal cost of back injuries

Statistics help us understand the scale of the problem, but they cannot fully convey what it means to live with a back injury day after day.

Pain and reduced mobility can touch every part of a person’s life: their work, income, family life, friendships and ability to manage everyday tasks. For some nurses, a serious injury brings long-term health problems or the heartbreaking prospect of leaving the profession they love.

As someone living with the consequences of a debilitating back injury at work, I can say it has changed my life in ways I could never have imagined.

The injury happened while I was caring for a patient, and its effects have reached into every part of my life.

My injury was not caused by inappropriate moving and handling. It happened in a split second.

A patient tried to stand, lost her balance and instinctively reached for me. I was directly in front of her and, as she grabbed hold of me to stop herself from falling, the force pulled and twisted my body. My immediate instinct was to protect her. I genuinely believed I was standing in a safe position, but that single moment became the dividing line between the life I had and the life I live now.

I went from being active and independent to living with constant pain. I rely on daily pain relief, including morphine, and use crutches and a wheelchair to get around. Even simple activities require careful planning around my pain and whether a place is accessible, and some things I once enjoyed are no longer possible.

Having to ask for help can be difficult, especially when I remember how independent I was before.

What makes this even harder is that I was injured while working for the same employer that, I often feel, does not fully recognise the severity of my condition. At times, there seems to be a readiness to replace me at the earliest opportunity rather than understand what I am living with or consider the support I need. I feel as though I am constantly having to fight for and justify my rights. Too often, my disability feels as though it is viewed negatively or used against me, when what I need is compassion, understanding and fair treatment.

The emotional impact has been just as profound as the physical injury. I miss the person I was and the freedom I had. Constant pain and limited mobility have affected my wellbeing, relationships, confidence and sense of who I am. I now have very little social life, and the loneliness can be overwhelming. What lasted only seconds has followed me into every day since.

My back injury has progressively worsened and, unfortunately, I have not recovered. I live with the knowledge that my condition may continue to deteriorate, which makes the loss of my former life even harder to accept. This reality has shown me that back care cannot be treated as a routine reminder or as an individual responsibility alone. Before I was injured, I could not have imagined how completely pain could change a life.

I share my experience not to frighten or blame anyone, but because I want other nurses to be protected from the lasting consequences I now face.

My message to every nurse and every employer is to act while there is still an opportunity to prevent harm.

Back care is not about expecting staff to get everything right in an unpredictable moment; it is about creating workplaces with suitable equipment, enough support, safe systems and a culture in which people can pause or speak up without fear.

The guidance that follows is offered with compassion, recognising the pressures of nursing and reminding you that your safety matters too.

What should employers be doing?  

The law is clear. Employers must first seek to avoid manual handling activities wherever reasonably practicable. Where patient handling tasks cannot be avoided, they must be properly assessed and supported through appropriate equipment, safe systems of work and effective training for staff. 

The Health, Safety and Wellbeing Group (HSWG), a sub-group of the NHS Staff Council, has developed guidance through national partnership working that represents recognised sector best practice for the prevention and management of musculoskeletal health issues in healthcare settings.  

Healthcare organisations across both the NHS and independent sector are encouraged to use this guidance to strengthen their arrangements for protecting staff health, safety and wellbeing and reducing the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders 

HSWG Guidance on Musculoskeletal health in the workplace

Every employer should be asking themselves a simple question:

If a member of staff was injured tomorrow, could we confidently demonstrate that we had done everything reasonably practicable to prevent it?

If the answer is no, action is needed today.

A role for health and safety representatives

RCN health and safety representatives play a key role in preventing back injuries by working with employers to identify risks, investigate concerns, review risk assessments and promote safer systems of work. Through consultation, safety representatives can help ensure that staff experiences are reflected in decisions about equipment provision, staffing levels, workplace design and working practices.

By raising concerns early and supporting preventative action, safety representatives can help reduce injuries and contribute to safer workplaces for both staff and patients.

What can nurses do?

Nursing staff are among the NHS’s most valuable assets, and no one should have to sacrifice their health to do the job they love. Preventing avoidable injury is therefore not only a health and safety responsibility; it is also essential to valuing and retaining the workforce.

Employers carry the primary legal responsibility for keeping staff safe, and from my own experience, no nurse should feel they have to manage risk alone. On a busy shift, it is not always easy to stop, ask for help or challenge an unsafe situation.

These gentle prompts are not about blame; they are reminders that your health matters too:

• Can I avoid this lifting or moving activity?
• Am I using the moving and handling equipment provided?
• Do I feel supported to question unsafe practices or shortcuts?
• Do I report defective or unavailable equipment?
• Is my moving and handling training up to date?
• Do I feel able to raise concerns when staffing levels make safe practice difficult?

Practical ways to protect your back

• Give yourself permission to pause before moving a patient or load. Take a moment to consider whether the task can be avoided, changed or completed with mechanical assistance.
• Use the correct hoist, slide sheet, transfer aid or other equipment in line with the person’s handling plan and your training. Using equipment is part of safe, compassionate care not a shortcut.
• Where you can, adjust beds, trolleys, chairs and work surfaces to a comfortable height before you begin, and keep the things you need within easy reach.
• Try to face the task, keep a stable stance and move your feet when changing direction rather than twisting while lifting or reaching.
• Ask a colleague for help when a task needs more people, the right equipment is unavailable or the situation has changed. You are not letting anyone down by refusing to continue when something feels unsafe.
• Busy shifts can make breaks difficult, but even small changes of position and brief moments of movement can help when they are possible.
• For desk-based work, take a moment to adjust your chair, screen, keyboard and mouse so that your position feels supported and comfortable.
• Listen when your body tells you something is wrong. Report pain, near misses, unsafe staffing, damaged equipment or worrying practices early, and seek occupational health or clinical advice if symptoms continue. You deserve to be taken seriously and supported.

I hope that sharing my own experience serves as a powerful reminder that early pain should never be dismissed or normalised. If discomfort begins, staff deserve to be heard and supported before it becomes life changing. Reporting symptoms, concerns about moving and handling, or defective and unavailable equipment is not making a fuss; it is an important step towards protecting yourself and your colleagues.

Prompt action allows employers to identify patterns, address underlying risks and provide appropriate support before a problem escalates. It also helps ensure that lessons can be learned and improvements made to protect both staff and patients.

Protecting the workforce, protecting patient care

Although back care matters every day, Back Care Awareness Week gives us a valuable opportunity to pause, listen to people’s experiences and consider how we can better protect one another at work.

No nurse should be expected to accept back pain or injury as “just part of the job”. Many injuries can be prevented when employers listen to staff and provide safe systems of work, suitable equipment, effective training and sufficient staffing.

I know from my own experience that a back injury does not end when a shift is over. It follows you home and can change how you move, work, connect with others and see your future. I would not want another nurse to lose the independence, confidence and social life that I have lost. Please listen to your body and remember that you are entitled to the right equipment, enough help and a safe way of working. Speaking up is not complaining, and asking for help is not weakness. Caring for others should never require you to sacrifice your own health. 

Because caring for yourself is an essential part of caring for others.

RCN Resources  

Moving and Handling

HSWG Resources

HSWG Guidance on Musculoskeletal health in the workplace 

Sources

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 / Manual Handling Operations Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992. Legislation.gov.uk

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) MSD Statistics 2024/25. https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/assets/docs/hssh2425.pdf

Health and Safety Executive, Historical picture statistics in Great Britain, 2025. https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/assets/docs/historical-picture.pdf

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) MSD Statistics 2024/25. https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/assets/docs/msd.pdf

Royal College of Nursing Moving and Handling Advice Guide. https://www.rcn.org.uk/get-help/rcn-advice/moving-and-handling

RCNi, Nurses' Back and Joint Pain: How Not to Get Hurt at Work, November 2024. https://rcni.com/nursing-standard/newsroom/analysis/nurses-back-and-joint-pain-how-not-to-get-hurt-work-209436