Some tips and pointers to protect your bones and joints during gardening season:
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- Use proper body mechanics – If you need to lift soil bags or bushes, bend at the knees and bring the items close to your body to reduce the carrying load. Try and keep good posture of your back and neck when planting and weeding. Slouching can put a strain on the muscles and irritate the joints. Keep your work close to you and avoid excessive reaching and twisting. A stool or knee pads may help you positioning properly to avoid irritating joints. Try and vary the tasks to prevent fatigue. If you have pre-existing issues with any part of your body, you may want to visit a Physiotherapist or Occupational Therapist to assess the issues and create a care plan and exercises for you.
- Stretch before you work – Stretching your joints and soft tissues before strenuous activities applies to gardening as it would to sports. Especially if you are stiff, it is important to warm up and stretch to prepare your body. A therapist can show you appropriate exercises for various activities in your life.
- Splints may help – Some people may experience joint pain due to arthritis and/or inflammation from overuse of certain joints and tendons. Thumb splints can protect your joints, especially the joint closest to your wrist. A wrist splint can provide rest to the wrist and keep it in the best position for loading. A combination splint can protect both thumb and wrist. An occupational therapist can create custom splints and/or fit you with a pre-fabricated splint properly and provide education on use of the splint.
- Use ergonomic equipment – You have probably noticed a change in the design of many gardening tools over the years. Larger handles and lighter equipment have proven to be beneficial for our joints. The larger the surface area of grip, the less pressure or force is put through your joints. With gardening, one big issue is the constant bending of the lower back. Long-handled weeders and shovels and rakes on angles that reduce stress are helpful to avoid poor postures. Pick your devices wisely: buying everything in the store may not be the best (though tempting) option! Try out equipment to make sure it is doing what they say it should and ensure it is right for you.
- Pace yourself – Spending time digging, planting or weeding in the garden counts toward your 30 minutes of daily activity. But we all have the tendency to set time aside to garden on the weekend, and we try to get everything done all at once. This could mean being in the garden from 4-8 hours. Our bodies need rest breaks, especially if we are not used to this kind of work. Gardening is great for the soul, but it can be quite repetitive, so try and vary your tasks to avoid too much repetition.
Enjoy making your garden beautiful!
