Avoiding Gardening Injuries – 7 Useful Tips!

Now is the perfect time to get the garden looking great and get the house into shape! After coming out of winter, the blue skies and increasing warmth provide great motivation to roll up the sleeves and get outdoors.

It is also the time of year that we as physiotherapists see increasing presentations of ‘gardening related’ injuries.

Don’t overload your body

Having spent minimal time in the garden over winter, there are often many hours of gardening and maintenance needed to get the yard up to scratch.

It is easy to get on a roll and spend a whole day or even a full weekend out in the garden, which after a relatively sedentary winter overloads the body as it is not conditioned to cope with this steep increase in activity and load.

Delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMS)

Although you may not feel pain at the time, it is not uncommon to wake up the next day with back, knee or shoulder pain or general muscle soreness from repeated and sustained bending, lifting, kneeling and pruning.

We commonly hear…”but I only spent a few hours in the garden”.

Those few hours on an unconditioned body could be compared to running 10km or a half marathon having not run for a year, a sure recipe for muscle soreness or overuse injury.

General muscle soreness may only last for 2-4 days, which is not of particular concern, but overuse injuries in joints or tendons can last weeks if not months and potentially lead to chronic problems.

Following these 7 tips to avoid those ‘gardening related’ injuries:

1. Pace yourself!

Take regular breaks and pace yourself. It doesn’t all need to be done that day!

2. Mix-up your tasks

Rotate between different tasks and positions frequently so you are not spending more than 15-20 minutes in the one position.

3. Protect your knees

When kneeling, consider using a piece of foam under the knees for padding.

4. Reduce back strain

Consider sitting on a low stool rather than bending over, which puts strain on your back.

5. Bend at the knees!

Bend the knees (squat) when bending down and keep the load close to the body when lifting.

6. Share the load

Ask a friend or family member for help, or consider hiring a gardener/maintenance person for the heavier tasks so you can spend more time doing the tasks you enjoy.

7. Cover up

And finally, don’t forget the sunscreen, hat and long sleeves to avoid sunburn after long periods outside.

 

Cherie Gendre, B. Physio, M. Musc Physio., - Physiotherapist (Clinical Educator), Back In Motion Eltham

Cherie completed her Masters of Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy in 2010, finishing Dux of her year. Cherie volunteers on the Australian Physiotherapy Association musculo-skeletal committee and assists in tutoring on the Masters program at La Trobe University. She has assisted on many professional courses as a tutor. In her spare time Cherie loves spending time with her young family, exercising and training for endurance events, or sipping a coffee with friends.