Avoid Spring Gardening Injuries

Working in your garden can take its toll on your body. The repetitive bending, kneeling, reaching, and twisting places strain on your muscles and joints, and results in aches and pains. But these aches and pains can be avoided.

Gardening is one of the most popular hobbies. With people spending so much time raking, digging, and planting, injuries can happen. The following are tips to keep you pain free and in your garden, instead of on the sofa:

• Warm up. Take a short walk to warm up your muscles and do light stretching to get limber.
• Pace yourself. Don’t try to do too much, too quickly. Be especially cautious on the first day not to overwork yourself.
• Avoid bending. Whenever possible, kneel instead of bend. This will place less strain on your back and spine. While kneeling, wear knee pads for comfort.
• Keep moving. Staying in one position for too long and a repetitive motion puts stress on your muscles and joints. Shift your body occasionally to keep all of your weight off of one body part for a prolonged period of time. And shift hands when using tools to avoid overworking one hand.
• Be careful lifting. When carrying heavy loads, hold objects close to your body. When lifting, lift with your legs and keep your back straight to avoid strain.
• Protect your skin from sunburn. Use sunscreen and wear a wide-brimmed hat.