Sonographers Need To Be Fit

Are you physically ready to become a sonographer? It’s a wonderful, fascinating career choice, but if you’re not physically fit, it could be play havoc on your body.

Sonographers must be able to:

• Help patients get up and down exam tables.
  While most patients will be under 250 pounds, there are patients who weigh more and are receiving sonograms because of personal injury; injury that prevents them from lifting their own bodies.
  
  
• Stand for long periods of time.
  Sonographers spend nearly six hours a day on their feet.
  
  
• Stretch across tables.
  According to a report by Sound Ergonomics, sonographers experience a lot of body aches due to stretching, but understanding how to properly stretch and work with patients can reduce physical stress on the body. To learn more about ways sonographers can prevent physical stress on their bodies, read September 2006’s issue of SonoWorld.
  
  
• Push and pull objects.
  Sonographers must move equipment around the patient to take adequate images. Those objects can weigh as much as 50 pounds.
  

If you have back or neck injuries, consult with your physician before considering a career as a medical sonographer.

Come back on Wednesday. We’ll be sharing a few blog posts about 'Patients And Their Sonographers" to help you understand just how important sonographers are.