It’s that time of year again: the time when patients flock to our office with gardening injuries. We love a good day in the garden just as much as anyone else, but it’s very important to observe good gardening practices! We want your garden to bring you joy, not pain. Here’s your annual reminder to garden safely, and 6 tips for gardening pain-free.
Warm Up
A targeted warm up can go a long way toward heightening your body awareness while gardening and getting the right muscles firing. Some good gardening warm ups:
Overhead stretch - reach your arms overhead and stretch upwards as if you could touch the ceiling. Hold for a breath or two.
Side stretch - with your back on a wall, reach one arm up and overhead against the wall. Keep your feet equally weighted and bend to one side, keeping your ribcage on the wall and preventing your pelvis from shifting to the left. If your shoulders are tight, keeping the arms on the wall can cause the ribs to pop up (and vice versa). If this is the case, modify by allowing the arms to move forward as necessary so you can give the ribcage more movement.
Down Dog at the wall - Stand facing the wall. Reach your arms overhead and place hands on the wall and slowly back up until your arms are fully outstretched, lowering your chest through your arms. Press your hands firmly into the wall and untuck your pelvis. Bend your knees if tight hamstrings interfere.
Hip hinge - practice hinging at your hips with a flat back toward 90 degrees. You can either place your hands on your hips (this can be helpful to make sure you’re really hinging), or reach your fingertips toward the floor. Do not go farther than your fingertips at mid-shin.
Squats - practice sending your hips back in space, bending your knees and keeping a straight spine and flat back. Press into your heels to rise up and squeeze your glutes at the top. Doing a few mindful reps before heading outside will help you maintain good habits while working.
Fascia taps - rub or pat your hands all over your body, being sure to get every square inch — soles of your feet, glutes, top of your head, face, everything! This awakens the sensory capacity of your skin and connective tissue, promoting body awareness, interroception and proprioception. This will help you notice your body positioning as you garden and make adjustments if you notice poor posture.
2. Hinge at the Hips!
The most common gardening complaint we see is from patients who have spent hours in the garden hunching over with a curved spine. Instead of letting your spine round to bend over, imagine your torso straight and strong as if you were doing a plank and hinge at your hips. Imagine creating a perfect right angle with your body. Hinge from your hips with a flat back and firm belly, sending the hips back in space. You can always bend your knees if you need to.
3. Switch It Up
If you’re going to be in one place for a while working on weeding or other garden activities, change up your position regularly. The hip hinge position is probably not sustainable for most of us for long periods of time. Other good options are squatting, kneeling, or sitting in a chair or garden stool.
4. Lift With Your Legs
If you’re lifting heavy loads whether it be a new tree or a bag of soil, use your legs! Bend your knees and push away from the earth, bracing your core. Be honest with yourself about how much you can lift and carry — you don’t have to do it all yourself, or all at once! Take your time and carry in smaller loads if possible, or ask a friend to help.
5. Use Your Core
Your core is your friend! The core is not just the ‘6-pack’ muscles. Core includes all the muscles of your abdomen, hips, sides, back, and even your glutes! Activating your core muscles 360 degrees around your body will help stabilize and add force to your actions.
6. Equalize Your Sides
Try not to carry heavy loads to one side of your body. For example, instead of carrying a heavy bucket with one hand, split the load into two buckets you can carry on each side, keeping your spine straight and tall. Alternatively, carry items straight in front of you with both arms, again, maintaining neutrality in your spine, and bracing your core.
Another way to even-out the load on your body is to try using both sides of your body to do different activities. This can be a fun ambidextrous test! Try weeding, shoveling, or other garden activities with your non-dominant side. This helps activate the muscles on both sides of the body, and will even give your brain some work creating new neural pathways!
Hopefully this helps you enjoy your garden this spring pain-free! For personalized insight to the specific symptoms your experiencing for your unique body and activities, see our providers!