How to Avoid Back Pain After Gardening

Gardening and yard work can be cathartic and rewarding. But the wear and tear on your body from hauling wheelbarrows of mulch, carrying bags of yard clippings, and planting flowers can take a toll, so it’s essential to warm up properly and take simple precautions to avoid back injury.

Can Gardening & Yard Work Cause Severe Lower Back Pain?

While gardening offers an abundance of benefits, it's important to recognize the potential risk it poses to your lower back and spinal health. The combination of repetitive bending, twisting, and heavy lifting, often paired with sitting in awkward positions like kneeling for prolonged periods of time, can put significant stress on your lower back and spine. The added stress may lead to muscle strain, severe pain, or other injuries if proper precautions are not taken.
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Gardening and yard work can worsen pain in pre-existing conditions like arthritis or sciatica due to added stress. Therefore, it's essential to prioritize proper form, listen to your body, and consult your doctor if you have any concerns about back pain from gardening or yard work.

How to Avoid Back Pain After Gardening

Follow these tips next time you garden to decrease your risk of injury and ensure your hobby remains enjoyable and safe for your back.

Stretch Before Gardening

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.
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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.

Proper Lifting Technique

Gardening frequently involves lifting heavy and awkwardly shaped objects. To minimize the risk of back pain or injury, it is crucial to lift with proper form.  Always bend at your knees and lift with your legs, not your back. This engages your stronger leg muscles and reduces strain on your back. If an item feels too heavy or awkward to lift safely alone, don't be afraid to ask for help or use a cart or wheelbarrow to alleviate some of the stress and protect your back. 

Use Tools to Help You

There are many gardening tools designed to help your posture and make you more comfortable while gardening. For example, use a long-handled rake that matches your height to avoid hunching over. Invest in knee pads for kneeling comfort, and consider ergonomic hand tools that reduce strain. The right tool can make all the difference. 

Listen to Your Body

​It's important to be able to recognize your physical limitations when gardening. If a task feels uncomfortable, stop and adjust. If your muscles are feeling fatigued, take a break. Pushing through the tiredness only increases your risk of injury. By listening to your body, you can prevent injury. ​

​Take Proper Care of Your Spine and Back

Getting regular chiropractic adjustments is a great way to maintain good spinal health, 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. 

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.