Gardening is favourite occasional pass time for some of us and crucial daily part of life activity for some. Whether you like gardening or not, the activities involved in gardening like leaning over, lifting pots pulling weeds etc can take a big toll on your back. After such strenuous activities you may notice a small pull in your back, stiffness or severe pain. This becomes all the more crucial for middle aged and elderly with some amount of pre-existing wear and tear in their spine. While you enjoy your gardening, it is also prudent that we act responsible spine wise to avoid accumulating more injuries. The following are some of the tips to avoid pain and back injury.
1.Maintain good hydration; Hydration is one of the key components of muscle function. This is all the more important if you are spending long hours in the garden. Muscle cramping after gardening work can be one of the signs of in adequate hydration. To avoid this, it is important to maintain hydration before, during and after the gardening activities
2. Warming up: Just like any other physical activity (like exercise) gentle back and limb stretches will help the muscles charge up before the anticipated strenuous activity.
3. Frequent breaks: Repeated actions required during gardening activities, like weed removing, digging through sand can put a lot of strain on upper limbs and neck. More so if done in quick succession. To prevent such repetitive overload, it is advisable to take frequent breaks.
5. Switching between tasks and staggering the activities over different days. Instead of doing all strenuous activities on the same day, it makes sense to schedule such activities on different days based on the severity of the stress/muscle work involved.
6. Being Appropriately dressed for gardening. Shoes with adequate support are required if working on uneven surfaces. Too tight or too loose wear are best avoided.
7. Follow proper ergonomic positioning while working. Sitting a gardening stool is better than standing and hunching over for long hours. It is better to use gardening mats and sit on them for ground/floor level activities.
8. Ask or recruit help: This particularly applicable for elderly and een younger individuals with previous back injury. Know your limitations. Heavy lifting or shifting large stones or pots is best outsourced to professional help.
9. Know when to stop- If you are experiencing severe pain or pain as become and aevery day event related to the gardening activity, it is best to stop and ask for professional help. Get back to gardening only after professional advice form your spine specialist.
I hope the above tips makes your gardening days more fruitful. Don’t let your back or neck pain hinder your expectations/ activities. All the best.
Dr Shashidhar B K
Spine Surgeon Bangalore