10 tips to protect your spine when gardening

How to prevent back pain when you tend to the backyard

Gardening is an excellent outdoor activity. A safe dose of sun, fresh air and physical activity are generally great for your health. Gardening can also help improve your focus, concentration and boost your mood too.

However, it’s important to remember that gardening is an occasional task. Often, firing up the whipper snipper and mower, pulling out weeds or trimming a hedge is a job for the weekend. As a result, your body isn’t conditioned to it and it can add stress to your spine.

Common gardening injuries

Back pain, caused by prolonged postures, is one of the most common complaints from gardening. Spending hours hunched over your flower bed can cause fatigue or aches in your body afterwards. Sciatica and bulging or herniated discs can also be aggravated from twisting or bending over to move heavy items in the garden shed too.

Tips to protect your spine when gardening

1.    Warm up and stretch

Treat gardening like a sport. Spend a few minutes to warm up your muscles and joints. This will allow you to move more easily and with a greater range. Here’s a sequence of ideal stretches to give your body an overall warm up:

·      cat/camel

·      hamstrings and hip flexors (quadriceps)

·      knees to chest and shoulder shrugs

2.    Maintain a healthy posture

When you’re in the garden, try to stay upright with your head in line with your shoulders where possible. To achieve this, you could add some hanging pots or elevated planting beds to your courtyard so you aren’t always tending to your plants at ground level. Frequent bending forwards can strain your lower back and result in serious lower back injuries.

3.    Pace yourself 

Don’t do too much too quickly - gardening is more challenging on your body than it appears. Plan out what you want to achieve in the garden and tackle it over a realistic period. Twisting, reaching, digging, and hauling all add up to strain on your spine.

4.    Take regular breaks

Take breaks to rehydrate and stretch. Keep loose and flexible.

5.    Long handled gardening tools

Rakes, hoes, and shovels that enable you to do most of the work upright are best. Do what you can to minimise stressful twisting and lifting.

6.    Proper lifting technique

This is probably the number one cause of those instant strains – the ones that stop you from being able to stand back upright! When you absolutely have to bend over to pick something up, make sure you bend at the knees and not your hips! Your thighs are big, strong muscles designed to do the hard work in this situation, so let them.

7.    Alternate hands and feet when using tools 

Use one arm and leg to exert the bulk of your work force while digging or raking. Then switch to your alternate leg/arm. When you maintain balance, you can work more effectively without tiring or overstraining yourself.

8.    Improve your back strength

If gardening is a regular hobby, spend time building strength in your back and stabilisers to decrease your risk of injury. Exercising your core is the key to train your back, pelvis and hips to work together efficiently.

9.    Pivot when you move heavy objects

Bending forwards and then twisting is when you are most susceptible to injuring your discs. To avoid triggering this painful and debilitating injury, pivot on your feet when you want to move something from right to left. Don’t turn with your hips. This slight step greatly reduces lower back strain and the risk of a bulging or herniated disc.

10. Use a wheelbarrow

Dirt, soil, bricks, and plants can be incredibly heavy. A good wheelbarrow is designed to help you move heavy and cumbersome items safely and easily. So be sensible and plan ahead – if you don’t own a wheelbarrow, arrange to rent one or borrow one from a neighbour.

Relieve gardening injuries with Sydney Spine

At Sydney Spine and Sports Clinic, we put you first. We believe in offering chiropractic solutions that enable you to make informed and educated choices about your health. We can help you find relief from muscle strains or sprains to your shoulder, back or limbs from sporting activities. If you are suffering discomfort and would like to talk to us about how we can help you get mobile and active again – make an appointment with one of our chiropractors.