Is Gardening Digging Into Your Back?

By Dr. Steven Warfield

As spring rapidly turns to summer here in North Florida, many homeowners are stepping out into their yards to weed, feed, mulch and mow.  While a properly trimmed garden may increase the curb appeal of a home, your back will pay the price should you overdo it.  So before you wind up seeking my help to help you overcome an aching back, here are a few helpful hints that are sure to make gardening less of a thorny issue.

      1.      Before you start mowing, hoeing, digging and weed whacking, it’s always a good idea to do some warm

Spine 103/365 (Photo credit: @Dave)

      up stretches to prepare the body for the stresses ahead.  Just as with sports, gardening is a physical activity that tends to strain the muscles, ligaments and tendons.   It is also one of the more accident prone activities, due to the fact that many of the implements used in the pursuit of the perfect lawn and garden are edged and/or powered.  So a few minutes of stretching might be just the thing to keep you from spending several hours in the ER.

      2.      Learn how to lift with your legs.  Many of the patients we deal with at this time of year come to us in pain due to the fact that they attempted to lift something with their backs as opposed to employing their legs.  Making a trip to the garden center to pick up bags of mulch, seed, manure, fertilizer or gravel to beautify your yard is almost a rite of passage every this time of year.  The problem is that some of these bags can weigh 50 pounds or more.  And most gardeners don’t buy just one or two.  They usually come home with a half dozen or more.  Hefted improperly, this dead weight is more than enough to cause you to strain your back or even slip a disc.   

      3.      Dress for success.   You need to choose attire that is loose fitting and comfortable.  Restrictive clothing not only makes you sweat more, it can also bind and cause injury.  (Also make sure you wear a hat.)

      4.      Choose the right time to perform heavy labor.  The last thing your body needs is a lot of strenuous activity at noon when the temperature is hovering at or above 90 degrees.  As the summer progresses, you need to garden either in the early morning or after the sun has set.  You also need to drink plenty of water to avoid heat exhaustion.

      5.      Give yourself a break.  Or even a number of breaks.  If your yard is a half-acre or larger and you use a push mower it’s best to break the task down into two quadrants (front and back), in order to do the task on the installment plan.  Trying to do too much in one go is the primary reason that people injure themselves in the yard.  Unless you are a professional landscaper used to working long hours in the sun, then the stresses associated with gardening can do you more harm than good. 

While gardening, just like any other physical activity is potentially good for the body, overdoing it can leave 

Jim Dubel demonstrating adjustment protocals (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

you sore come Monday morning.  If you or anyone you know experiences pain in their back or neck, then chiropractic care can quickly help them reestablish balance and make the pain go away.  More importantly, chiropractors can help you avoid injury in the future by showing you simple stretching exercises that are designed to prepare the body for strenuous activity.  This way you can enjoy the fruits of your labor in the garden without having to pay the price of having to endure an aching back.  

Dr.’s Steven Warfield and Dave Edenfield offer the most advanced treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash and headaches. They also treat auto accident victims with state-of-the-art technologies.  For more information visit http://www.lakewoodchiropracticjax.com/