An industry figure of no less stature than the intrepid Joe Domin inspired this latest food for thought.

For those of you who may not know, Joe recently went through his second (yikes) knee replacement and is working his way through the recovery/physical therapy/”Ow, ow, make it stop!” portion of the process.

“Now, you would think from experience my therapist would know how far a knee would bend,” Joe writes. “Yet her shoves and pushes make me believe she was leading a knee where no knee had gone before!” The true irony, Joe decides, is that after decades in the industry, while thousands of cleaners are off pushing titanium wands, he’s now pushing off titanium knees.

Yet his lighthearted recollections were tempered by the fact that, like it or not, the cleaning business can be a brutal one. Long days, months and years of bending, pulling, pushing and lifting will take their toll, even if you’ve got ‘lift with your knees’ burned into your frontal lobe forever.

And here’s the kicker, something everyone knows in the back of his or her head: When on the path to arthritis, once the damage is done, it’s done. “Another thing you must understand is, when you get older and complications start setting up, it’s already too late,” Joe writes.

Most cleaners I’ve spoken with over the years agree that it can take some tremendous sacrifices to make it in this business. But when it comes to your health, take a moment to step back and re-evaluate every situation before jumping in feet – and knees, and back, and shoulders – first.