I find that the most common injuries that revolve around vacuuming are at your lower back and the shoulder of your pushing arm. The risk increases depending on how heavy your vacuum is and how strong you are to begin with. The pushing and pulling actions of using a vacuum invokes some twisting of your back- which is always a risky move. The back is vulnerable when twisting under pressure, especially if bent forward at all. The shoulder is as risk because of the forceful pushing motion, that i find often that when people recognize (either consciously or subconsciously ) that there is a challenging action for their arm, we really ramp up in anticipation and the shoulder rolls forward and shrugs a bit in a way that gives us a false sense of stabilization and power. With the shoulder hunched in this position, we are vulnerable to impingement (the condition where our tendons and other supple things inside our shoulders get pinched and aggravated from the bones that are more scrunched together). I find that most people take a side stance approach to vacuuming. And then to push the vacuum forward we twist so that the arm pushing the vacuum reaches way forward. To avoid injuring your back when vacuuming, try to keep our core muscles engaged (suck in your stomach), and as you push and pull the vacuum, try to utilize more of a weight shift from your back to front to back leg (a little like rocking) rather than a twist and reach. Keep your neck/shoulder relaxed. And minimize the amount that you push with your shoulder. By shifting your weight back and forth on your legs, the vacuum will naturally slide forward and back too, just so long as you maintain a sturdy hold with your wrist/elbow/shoulder/upper back. You’re going to have to take smaller strokes with the vacuum, but, that’s more efficient than ending up with an injury. If i’ve gotten this out too late, and you already have gotten a muscle strain, then these are my 3 top pick stretches to utilize while vacuuming. The doorway stretch, the single knee to chest stretch, and the supine piriformis stretch. Check out my HouseCleaning warm up routine for all the prevention and feel good tips you need to know when that urge (or flat out necessity) arises to clean your house. You can do this!