How to Avoid Back Pain After Gardening

Back Pain from Gardening

Gardening and yard work can be cathartic and rewarding. Hauling wheelbarrows of mulch, carrying bags of yard clippings, and planting flowers help you beautify your property, learn new crafts, get a good cardio workout, and enjoy a productive hobby. But the wear and tear on your body can take a toll throughout the warm seasons, so it’s essential to warm up properly and take simple precautions to avoid back injury. After all, staying hunched over a plot of dirt all day isn’t good for your spine. Here are a few tips on how to avoid back pain after gardening.

Make Sure to Stretch Before Gardening

Before you begin any rigorous physical activity, you should take a few minutes to stretch. Stretching every day will positively impact your health whether or not you enjoy gardening. It helps you retain flexibility, improves your range of motion, and gives you a better sense of balance, helping you avoid injury during everyday activity.

Stretching before rigorous or prolonged physical activity is crucial. Generally speaking, yard work can take anywhere from a few hours to a whole day. That’s a long time to remain physically active. So whether you’re hauling leaves or grass clippings, pushing a lawnmower, planting flowers, or trimming trees and hedges, it’s important to prepare yourself to avoid injury. Try stretches that focus on your neck and back. Even 5 to 10 minutes of stretching a day can significantly impact your health.

Take Regular Breaks

When you dedicate an entire day to yard work, take breaks every so often. Cool down inside, grab a glass of ice-cold water and relax for 5 or 10 minutes before resuming. Being so focused on the task at hand can make time fly, but try to set the alarm on your phone every hour or so to take a break to re-hydrate and give your body some rest. 

It’s also beneficial to break monotonous tasks into segments. Spending hours on end hunched over plants will be rough on your spine. Instead, try switching activities every 20 minutes or so and come back to finish them later. Repetitive, strenuous motions should be avoided as they can negatively affect your joints and muscles.

​Take Proper Care of Your Spine and Back

Getting regular chiropractic adjustments is healthy, especially during the warmer seasons. Between outdoor yard work and general increased outdoor activity in the summer, it’s important to ensure that you don’t injure yourself. Visiting a chiropractor will help you become more flexible and protect your joints from the natural wear and tear of doing yard work and other strenuous physical activities. 

If you plan on doing some DIY projects this summer ,  whether simple gardening or tearing out hedges, consider scheduling a consultation today. At Petrak Family Chiropractic Center, your physical health is our number one priority. We’ll create an individualized treatment regimen custom tailored to improve your flexibility, balance, range of motion, joint and spinal health, and more. Get in touch to get started.