In many homes, Ramzan is held together by women who barely stop moving.
They wake before everyone else for sehri. They cook, clean, lift, wash, bend, reach, serve, and clear — then repeat it all by iftar. By night, when the house finally quiets down, another reality surfaces: a stiff lower back, burning shoulders, aching knees, numb wrists, a neck that refuses to turn properly.
Because people label it “just housework,” families often dismiss the pain.They should not.
Musculoskeletal problems are not limited to gym injuries or office posture issues. They affect muscles, bones, joints, tendons, and surrounding tissues. Repetitive movement, force, prolonged standing, awkward posture, bending, lifting, twisting, and doing the same task for too long can cause or worsen strain.
A mother spending days in nonstop domestic labour places real physical stress on her body — even if no one around her calls it an “injury.”
The issue is rarely one dramatic incident. It builds quietly.
Repeated forward bending while rinsing rice, chopping vegetables, cleaning low shelves, scrubbing floors, lifting water containers, moving heavy pots, carrying grocery bags, washing dishes over a low sink, or standing for long periods at the stove gradually overloads the body. Repetition alone strains muscles. Combine repetition with awkward posture and force, and the load on joints and tendons increases even more.
That is why many women during Ramzan cannot point to one specific injury. Instead, their bodies begin protesting in parts.
Lower backs tighten. Shoulders feel heavy. Wrists hurt while gripping utensils or kneading dough. Knees ache after repeated squatting, stair climbing, and standing. Necks stiffen after hours of looking down. By bedtime, it feels like thakaan — but sometimes it goes beyond simple tiredness.
Muscle strain can cause pain, tenderness, swelling, spasms, weakness, and reduced movement. Repetitive strain may also lead to stiffness, tingling, numbness, or loss of strength.
Ramzan often turns physical overload into something people romanticise.
“She’s managing everything.”“She doesn’t sit.”“She keeps the whole house running.”
It sounds like praise. Physically, however, the body does not care whether strain comes from paid work or unpaid service at home.
The invisibility makes it worse. When care work goes unpaid and unacknowledged, many women push through pain for longer. They delay treatment. They normalise symptoms that would raise concern in any workplace.
The schedule adds more pressure: reduced sleep, fewer real breaks, compressed meal preparation windows, and urgency to finish everything before iftar.
The problem is not laziness. The problem is lack of recovery.
Several patterns frequently appear during Ramzan overwork:
These are often overuse injuries. They develop gradually until everyday tasks themselves begin to hurt.
Telling mothers to rest is easy. Creating space for rest requires intention. Even when full rest is unrealistic, practical adjustments can protect the body.
Change mechanics, not just mindset.
Bring tasks to waist height whenever possible to reduce stooping. Keep loads close to the body. Bend at the hips and knees. Use the legs to lift instead of folding through the back.
Break long tasks into shorter intervals. Repeated strain without pause adds up quickly. Micro-breaks matter.
Alternate activities. Avoid grouping all standing, heavy, or bending tasks together.
Turn the whole body instead of twisting the spine while carrying weight.
Reduce load size. One oversized pot, one overfilled grocery bag, or one heavy bucket often turns routine work into strain.
Use support where possible: place a small stool under one foot while standing, sit while peeling or sorting, raise surfaces instead of working at floor level, ask for help carrying water or groceries, and delegate meaningfully — not symbolically.
Most importantly, recurring pain signals stress. It does not signal weakness.
Not every ache signals an emergency. Some symptoms, however, require attention.
Seek medical care if pain includes numbness, tingling, weakness, reduced grip strength, pain shooting down the leg, or worsening movement restriction.
Urgent care becomes necessary if back pain accompanies numbness around the buttocks or genitals, difficulty passing urine, loss of bladder or bowel control, or significant leg weakness. These are red-flag symptoms.
Many women wait until pain becomes severe enough to stop them entirely. By then, a simple strain may already disrupt sleep, mobility, and daily function.
A mother constantly standing does not prove she is fine.It may mean she has not been allowed to stop.
Ramzan teaches care, mercy, and shared responsibility. That responsibility includes noticing the women whose labour sustains the month and acknowledging that their pain matters.
The body keeps score — even when families overlook it.
Those quiet aches in the back, knees, shoulders, and wrists are real. Ignoring them can turn temporary strain into lasting problems that extend far beyond Ramzan.
If pain keeps returning, begins limiting movement, or no longer feels like “just tiredness,” do not ignore it.
Reach out to Tele-Tabeeb 1123 for medical guidance and timely support. Sometimes the most overlooked health issue in Ramzan stands in the kitchen, still insisting she’s okay.
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