Blog article

This year the garden has romped away with all the warmth and rain and there is so much to do in the garden in terms of maintenance otherwise it will turn into a jungle! Gardening can give you a better fitness regime than any gymn will! It is also more fun too giving you the chance to eat, smell, share and admire whilst at the same time getting some Vitamin D. You might even see some wildlife like lizards and birds.

Joints, muscles,tendons and ligaments actually love loading, even those of you with arthritis and their strength and longevity depend on this loading. 

However, you need to know how to move and how long to work at weeding, pruning, sweeping, digging etc in order not to injure yourself. So, in this  part1 of a 2 part series I am going to talk about warming up, weeding/mulching/planting and pruning.

The warm up

1. Clench and flex your hands

2. Holding onto a door frame or chair swing your legs and bend your knees.

3. Make circles with your pelvis like a belly dancer.

4. Shoulder rolls backwards and shaking out your arms.

Weeding ,mulching and planting

DO NOT work with straight legs close together and a straight back whilst weeding, mulching or planting! This will damage lower back ligaments, weaken postural muscles giving you long term pain.

Instead:

1. Position yourself over the working area with bent knees, hinged hips ( rice farmer style) and legs wide apart. Do not spend too long in this position or leaning forward on your knees or feet.

2. Alternatively for weeding or mulching squatting on one knee. 

3. Use a kneeling pad or rolled over towel if the knees tend to get too sore.

PRUNING AT HEAD HEIGHT OR HIGHER

Poor positioning and overuse of the arms and neck with this activity can cause pain to often appear the next day! 

1. Think wide. So keep your chest open and move close in to the area to be pruned. Using long handled pruners and hedging tools takes you out of your centre of gravity so you are more likely to fall over or bend backwards too much, straining the back in this  position.

2. Stay loose and not overuse the neck or elbows too much. Do the pruning in short bursts, so you can rest and not stay too long in the one posiion. 

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