6 Tips On How to Garden with Back Pain
While many individuals find gardening to be a relaxing and therapeutic pastime, it can be taxing on your body, particularly if you suffer from chronic back pain. Gardening for lengthy periods might harm your back or aggravate an existing back discomfort. That isn’t to say that you should scrap off gardening from your list and forget about it. Follow these 6 tactics for preventing back damage and with a few adjustments and a dash of ingenuity, you will be able to keep your green thumb active.
1. Warming-Up Before Gardening
Warming up your muscles before gardening is an excellent idea because it may be a strenuous exercise. It is a tremendous exercise since it involves some motions which include;
- Leaning
- Standing
- Crouching
- Kneeling
- Bending over
- Twisting
- Squatting
- Lifting
A five-minute brisk stroll and a stretching exercise are also recommended. The back-flexion exercise, which involves lying down on your back and pulling both knees to your chest while bringing your head forward, is a rather easy stretch. These exercises help keep your muscles strong before gardening. Hong Shen, a pain management specialist, suggests that injuries arising from gardening can be avoided by strong core muscles and flexibility.
2. Taking Frequent Breaks
When you enjoy being in the yard, it’s easy to lose track of time. Bringing a water bottle with you can serve as a good reminder to hydrate yourself and take frequent pauses. Do some stretches during these pauses if you have been stuck in one position for a while. Also, avoid repeating the same activity for an extended length of time, for instance, pruning. Alternate between activities and rotate these responsibilities regularly.
3. Getting Support from Chairs and Kneelers
Depending on your amount of flexibility and discomfort, getting down on the ground and then standing up can be a bit uncomfortable or close to impossible. Heavy-duty kneelers, particularly those with elevated, padded grips, can assist you in getting up and down by allowing you to utilize your arm strength to help you. Kneelers more often have a well-cushioned base to decrease stress and impact on the back and knees. Many kneelers have the advantage of being transformed into a low chair.
4. Trying Out Some Specialized Garden Tools
Some specialized gardening tools and accessories can be useful, particularly if you have chronic back pain. Planting and weeding tools with long handles can help reduce the amount of bending necessary. Cultivators and long-handled trowels, for instance, can be useful in cases where bending forward results in back pain or worsens back pain altogether. Garden carts and wheelbarrows can be useful in moving heavy tools, especially if you have back pain. Garden benches/stools can be helpful for weeding and planting because they eliminate the need to squat.
5. Lifting with Support
Lifting bushes, full watering cans, and heavy pots without sufficient back support may pose a risk of back injuries to your;
- Ligaments
- Muscles
- Discs
Begin by squatting instead of bending at your waist in an ergonomically supported fashion. Hold the item with both hands and keep it close to your body as you stand up. Carry heavy objects from one location to another with the help of a dolly, wagon, or other lifting aids. Fill large watering cans only halfway. You may as well think about soaker hoses or automatic irrigation systems as alternatives.
6. Try Gardening While Standing
Vertical gardening, often known as wall gardening, is a growing trend in which plants are grown vertically rather than horizontally. If bending results in pain, working at eye level may be an option. In one style of wall gardening, plants and soil tuck into pockets made of felt or similar material and installed on a structure affixed to a wall. The plants progressively grow together to produce a flower or greenery wall. Other wall gardening designs include a wooden or metal material that runs the length of a wall and has locations for connecting various-sized planters. The style can be anything from creative to sophisticated.
If you indeed love gardening, consider trying out these six tips to keep your hobby going while also relaxing your mind, eliminating anxiety, and reducing back pains.