SAFE GARDENING

Gardening Injuries

Spring is on its way! Hurray! So are you getting geared up for gardening? Whether you see gardening as perfect stress reliever, or whether you think of it as a fitness workout, it’s a great pastime.

But spending hours bent over in the garden makes you that bit more vulnerable to injuries, and what we want to do is keep you out of pain.

Gardening injuries range from low back pain from leaning forward doing the weeding, to aching shoulders from pruning. Of course, there are always the more unusual injuries, like stepping onto the rake and smacking yourself on the forehead, but it’s pretty difficult for me to help you avoid standing on a rake!

So here are a few reminders to keep yourself out of A&E:

1. Always begin with a warm up: Take a brisk walk around the garden first, or just wriggle around a bit before you start in the work. Get those joints moving a bit!
2. Change activities every 10 minutes: Don’t get stuck on a single task for hours. Vary your activities from digging to planting; pruning to weeding; raking to hacking shrubs back. That way you engage different muscle groups.
3. Use long-handled tools: This should help minimise all the bending or stretching.
4. NEVER use bendy canes or sticks to support you when switching positions from kneeling to standing.
5. Lift with your knees and a straight back: Don’t lift those huge soil-filled flower pots or sacks full of landscaping stones if they are too heavy. If you think you’ve picked up something that might hurt your back - drop it. There’s no need to be a hero in the garden!
6. Take a break and listen to your body: As soon as you get that achey feeling that tells you you’ve done too much, just stop what you’re doing.
7. Don’t stand on the rake!

Gardening is a fantastic thing to do, but it is worth taking precautions to keep you injury free!

Most of all enjoy the daffs, snowdrops and tulips as they start coming up – it’s just so nice to see them!

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