After one of the coldest winters for years, the recent sun shine and warm weather is welcome affirmation that summer will be arriving in a few weeks. It is preceded by the 'springing of the green' - the emergence of the lush, verdant leaves, plants and grasses from their winter hibernation that is so devastatingly beautiful at this time.
While this is more than welcome it is now, especially after the first fine weekend that we in the physio clinic, see our first glut of 'gardening injuries '. Gardening might be thought of as a benign pastime but I can assure you it can be as troublesome as many sports in terms of the amount of shoulder, knee and back pain it generates!
A few tips to try to lessen this impact of gardening are
- 1. Have several jobs on the go at the same time, preferably at different heights and requiring different amounts of physical input
- 2.Set a timer for 30 minutes and move between the different tasks when it goes of.
- 3. If doing some hard physical work - start very gently and after 5 minutes stop and stretch your spine back wards and from side to side. Holding teh stretch for 20-30 seconds.
- 4. Do not grip tools any more firmly than you really need to
- 5. Do not use secateurs , without a break for longer than 10-15 minutes at a time, particularly if over 45yrs +/-.
- 6 Wear walking boots rather than wellington boots if on your feet for long periods.
- 7. Work on all fours rather than kneeling back on your heels.
Finally don't forget to have some time sitting back relaxing and enjoying your labours - leaning on your spade, day dreaming can be immensely therapeutic... mentally and physically