BREMERTON, Washington –
Humans generally have good posture (also known as alignment) until they hit the ripe old age of four.
It’s downhill from there.
After spending our childhood doing activities that are unnatural to our body alignment — like eating food at a table and reading or working at a desk — we enter the workforce and continue doing tasks that put more strain on our bodies. That includes not only physical jobs we normally associate with injuries but also driving to work and performing office tasks like using a computer.
Injury Prevention Every Day, more commonly known as IPED, is a Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility program designed to help ease those issues.
According to Amelia Maule, the Production Resources Department’s command safety supervisor, the shipyard wanted to revitalize a stretch and flex program nearly ten years ago. A team member learned of an innovative program at Idaho National Laboratory that was developed by Dr. Brad Snedden. He believed that rehabilitative balance exercises, strengthening moves and resistance bands used by physical therapists after an injury occurs could possibly help prevent injuries or reduce their severity. Prior to implementing Snedden’s program, INL’s 4,000-person workforce averaged 72 sprains, strains and tears per year. That number dropped sharply to an average of just 11 per year.
The shipyard sent a team to INL to learn more, reporting their findings to senior leaders here. Leadership was so impressed with the data and INL’s success that they agreed to run a 90-day pilot program. The feedback was virtually unanimous: people felt better and thought the program should be embraced.
In 2011, IPED was officially launched. With management concurrence, teammates were granted 15 minutes at the start of each shift to balance, stretch and strengthen. IPED’s creator, Snedden, visited the command the following year to fine-tune the program, train 120 people to lead exercises and film the IPED demonstration videos teammates can access on the Joe Shipyardworker YouTube channel.
Since then, about 3,000 teammates have been trained to lead IPED and roughly 20 to 25 percent of the workforce voluntarily performs IPED prior to their shift.
While IPED doesn’t ensure sprains, strains and tears will never occur, several teammates credited the program with helping them heal more quickly.
“Having two knee surgeries in the same year, both ACL replacements and meniscus repairs, much of my quick recovery was due to IPED coupled with physical therapy,” said Lawrence “Cowboy” Kalcso, a Production Resources Department program analyst. IPED has been part of his daily routine for more than four years now. “You’ll get out of it what you put into it.”
According to some, an added benefit is bonding with teammates.
“I enjoy participating ... it allows good interaction, discussing safety while warming up for the upcoming work,” said Terry Eddy, a process improvement zone manager in the shipyard’s Paint Shop. “I have some leg issues so IPED helps me stretch and get ready for the day.”
IPED has been credited by some with possibly preventing issues both inside and outside the shipyard.
“IPED has greatly improved my balance and it helps me focus my situational awareness when I’m walking, both here at the shipyard and on rough terrain,” noted Eric Szathmary, Outside Machine Shop environmental coordinator and safety advocate. “On multiple occasions, I’ve stepped wrong and believe that, if it were not for IPED, I would have strained or sprained an ankle.”
He added, “I like that IPED has a wide variety of exercises that cover balance and that you can increase the difficulty of the exercises you do.”
If you’re interested in learning how to lead IPED, training is held every Wednesday at 10 a.m. in the north mezzanine of PSNS & IMF’s Building 431. For more information, call (360) 476-8772.