As spring flowers are blooming, gardening is one of those seasonal activities that you might find you enjoy, are doing more of, and find to be almost therapeutic. Growing things can help with your mental and physical well-being but it can also cause aches and pains. Pain-free gardening is possible, for sure, if you have a few simple strategies under your belt.

After all, our modern lives see many of us sitting much of the day for work and most of us don’t do this much twisting, bending, pulling, pushing or lifting (especially not in a squat or kneeling stance) in our daily schedule.

If pain-free gardening is your goal, here are three things to consider.

Posture for pain-free gardening

You probably don’t pay much attention to your posture when you garden, because you are focused on other things. But if you are digging from an angle or twisting when you rake or spreading mulch, you could end up with soreness or worse, an injury. When you dig, make sure you are digging straight down and don’t be afraid to use your foot to give you leverage. As you’re shoveling, always keep your shoulders and hips facing the direction you’re digging. Similar to shoveling snow, never twist or rotate as you dispose of the dirt. Always turn your entire body before dumping the load. If you are raking or weeding, make sure your back isn’t hunched over or twisted. A garden bench or kneeling pad can help too, so you don’t have to reach or squat. If you feel your posture suffering, take a break or consider being done for the day.

Change it up

Change up your gardening activity! Don’t do all your weeding at once, or mowing or planting. Vary your tasks so you are using different muscle groups which helps to prevent overuse of any one muscle group and can prevent any adverse aches or pains. And even if it’s awkward, try switching hands when you are digging or using other tools. This will help you balance out the effort on both sides of the body so one side doesn’t get overworked!

Watch how you move

Be sure to warm up with a few simple movements or stretches. Then, when you lift heavy flats of plants, or big bags of soil or mulch, be mindful of how you lift. Try not to lift from your back – bend your knees and use your legs and glutes! Bend and hinge from your hips and use a stride stance to lift and dump or spread. Some people find that container gardening is easier on their body too, so if working in a garden plot doesn’t sound like a good idea, don’t be afraid to change things up!

Not sure if you’re lifting or hinging properly? Do you need help with correcting your posture in general? We can help by teaching what we call “Core First Strategies” to keep your back safe and healthy no matter what activity you’re doing.

Beacon Physical Therapy

At Beacon Physical Therapy, we want to support healthy movement so you can keep doing the hobbies and activities that feed your soul. If you are having an issue, make an appointment today. We’d love to meet you and get you back to doing what you love.