You know the drill. It’s a sunny day. Miracle of miracles. And you can’t wait to get your gardening togs on and go out and attack those weeds, that with all the rain we’ve been getting are almost as tall as you are. But hold on just a minute. Remember last time you spent 6 hours in the garden and woke up with your back seized up? No, of course not, because this is a brand-new day and just look, those weeeeds!
We can often forget that gardening is a workout for the body and especially for our backs. So here are 10 tips to stop your back getting ugly while you beautify your garden.
- Wait at least 1 hour after you get up before you begin gardening. This is because the back is more vulnerable to injury first thing in the morning due to build up of fluid in the discs during the night which compresses out during the day.
- Because gardening mostly involves bending forward, do a few counter postures before you begin that involve arching the back like cat/cow, cobra or sphinx, or simply standing arms arm and leaning back a little.
- When you get out into the garden, whether you are standing or on all fours, don’t hunch your back when you lean forward. Bend from your hips, keeping your back straight. If you follow the rule of not dropping your heard down this will help maintain good back alignment. Rounding the back while leaning forward puts enormous stress on the spine, so if you only follow one of these tips, follow this one.
- Get into the habit of every 20-30 minutes, in a standing position, putting your hands on your lower back and arching backwards a little. You can set a timer to remind you.
- Try not to twist your back to the side as you work, move the whole body instead if you need to turn around. Twisting puts a lot of pressure on the spine.
- Gardening often involves some heavy lifting. Always remember to hinge down from the hips and plant the legs firmly, lifting the weight close to the body and using the strength in your arms and legs.
- If you’re raking, shovelling or watering with a hose, use a nice wide stance with feet firmly planted, torso straight, and use your legs to shift position, rather than leaning.
- Anything strenuous like shovelling that revolves repetitive strain remember to engage your glutes (squeeze your butt) and your core muscles. This will help to support the spine as you work.
- Build up garden work gradually. Don’t go from 0 to 6 hours. Begin with one hour, then two, and build up the time so your body gets a chance to adapt. You will be in much less danger of hurting yourself.
- Don’t forget to take the time to smell the roses! A 5-10 minute break every hour will help to ensure that your roses are not neglected because you’re laid up with back pain.
Feel free to get creative in how you support your back using these tips as a guide. It’s hard to change old habits, but if you continue to remind yourself to adopt protective postures as you weed, plant, shovel, water and rake, soon it will become second nature. Your garden will thrive and your back will survive!
To learn about group and private classes (off and online) for yoga and breath coaching please email me at: lavieenyoga@gmail.com
Respect yourself, explore yourself.
Rebecca
La Vie en Yoga 