Many people enjoy spending hours gardening. Just as any activity that requires a lot of bending and twisting, gardening can lead to severe back pain if you are not careful. Here are a few tips to prevent you from developing that back pain or any other injury while you are gardening.
Warm-up
Just as with any exercise, you should warm up for 5-10 minutes before you garden,
in order to prevent muscle soreness. An effective and quick warm up could be
a short walk and a few stretches. Try to stretch out the muscles that you will
be using during your gardening.
A physical therapist can develop an easy stretching and warm-up routine for
you
Body Positioning
Proper body positioning can help prevent injuries. It is best to do your work
at waist height, however many gardening tasks will not allow for this. In all
cases try to keep your work close to you. While working on the ground, kneel
or sit on a stool instead of bending from the waist. Take breaks every 20 minutes
or at least change your task so that you are in a different position. If you
have to lift items, keep your back straight and use your leg muscles.
Helpful Tools
Choose the proper length of tool so that you do not have to bend and get into
awkward positions. Adjustable tools are great so that people of different heights
can use it. Make sure your tools are easy to use and as light as possible. Try
to use tools to reduce the workload (weed pullers, wheelbarrows).