Spring has officially arrived which means its time to start gardening! We have many patients who come into the office this time of year with complaints of lower back pain from gardening all day. So, this year we decided to take a proactive approach and provide some proper gardening position tips!
The most important thing to keep in mind while prepping and planting in your garden is maintaining good posture. One great product to help assist is Stout's Backsaver Grip, which can be found at most ACE Hardware locations. Check out this video to see more uses for the Backsaver Grip.
When planting in your garden, the best position you can use is kneeling on a garden pad. You will want to focus on keeping your spine straight, using your arms to reach without hunching over. DO NOT use a stool, which can force you to bend down to reach the ground.
Another great way to maintain a good kneeling posture is to build a raised garden bed for your veggies. This will help keep you in an upright position while you garden.
Something many people forget is the position of their wrists. When holding your gardening tools, keeping your wrists straight is key. Lucky for us, there are many new ergonomic designed gardening tools at your local hardware store!
We hope you are catching on to the pattern here- STRAIGHTER IS BETTER! And if you are still experiencing lower back pain or discomfort even after following these tips, please feel free to stop in the office for an adjustment!