Tips for Gardening This Summer - How to Save Your Back

It’s that time of the year! Big spring clean-ups in the yard, planting, weeding, and landscaping are all things keeping our clients busy and active! It is also the time of year that we suddenly see many injuries popping up due to this sudden increase in activity. Gardening is very physical and can be quite demanding on the spine. If you find yourself year after year hurting your back in the garden, this blog is for you! Long gone are the days when you need to choose between suffering with pain and getting the garden of your dreams. 

Tips for Pain-free Gardening:

• Warm up before you start

1. You wouldn’t skip a warmup before a run or any other workout. Gardening is no different!
2. A 5-10 minute warm-up will get your joints lubricated and loosen things up, reducing your chances of injury.
3. Try a short brisk walk, squats, lunges, high knees, and butt kicks. Ideally, you are focusing on these dynamic movements and saving most of your stretching for after your yard work.

• Be mindful of your positioning while weeding
  • Two options here! Option 1 is to sit on a sturdy low stool. This is often easier on the knees than kneeling. When you bend forward to weed, widen the knees and bend at your hips. Avoid overly rounding at the back, and keep your core engaged. 
  • Option 2 is to go into a kneeling position on a cushion. Here you will also focus on keeping your back relatively straight during the work of weeding and hinging at the hips. 
  • No matter which method you choose, take frequent breaks and reach up towards the sky to decompress the joints and give your back a nice stretch. 

• If you have to lift a heavy load like a bag of soil or fertilizer consider a few things:
  • If you’re unsure if it’s a good idea, ask for help! There is no shame in asking a family member or a neighbor for some assistance. It could save you from an injury that nags all summer long. 
  • When you are lifting, use proper body mechanics:
    1. Position yourself right over the top of the bag so you are not reaching forward while initiating the lift. 
    2. Keeping your core engaged and your back straight, hinge forward at the hips and bend the knees to grab the bag.
    3. As you lift, the power should be coming from your legs and glutes as you stand straight up, returning to an upright position.
    4. As you lower the weight, repeat the same steps in reverse order, focusing on keeping your core engaged and your low back straight. Use your legs to control the weight down vs. letting it pull you down. 

• Raking 
  • To safely rake, focus on keeping your weight centered over both feet and keeping your back straight. 
  • If you keep your strokes short and the rake close to you, you will avoid excessive bending and rotating at the spine (which is a common mechanism of injury while gardening). 
  • This will involve moving your feet around a little more and twisting and reaching a lot less. 

• Digging 
  • For safe digging technique, focus on most of the bend coming from your knees, and the rest of it coming from your hips, keeping your low back neutral. 
  • Keep the shovel as close to your body as possible to have more control and less back and arm strain. 
  • Shovel smaller loads with each repetition, instead of heavier ones. 

Keep these tips in mind next time you have a full day in the garden! Don’t forget to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, and ask for help when you need it! Happy gardening!