Gardening is hardly a contact sport. But it can still damage your joints, causing back and knee pain. It’s good exercise if you use certain techniques and not overdo it.
These body-smart techniques will keep your thumb green and your wrist pain-free. Before you go out with your wicker basket of herbs and vegetables wearing your best straw hat, and overalls. It’s important to stretch just like any labor-intensive exercise. Doing some basic stretches can loosen joints and muscles. That way you only need to worry about planting and plowing.
Read more about these techniques to help you garden safely.
One tip that seems unconventional, but may save you a lot of stress is using your forearms instead of your fingertips to carry awkward heavy loads like plant flats or bags of soil. You also want avoid pinching, squeezing, or twisting motions. And you should use a knife or scissors to open bags instead of tearing them open with your hands. We know you’re one with the earth now that you can summon plants from the ground. Please use caution, and take breaks often.
The most important tip is using good posture; use a stool or kneeling bench instead of crouching or bending over. That’s why raising plant beds and using trellises to grow and hang plants.
These tips can be lifesavers if you love gardening and want to keep doing it every season. Gardening and growing your own backyard food should be fun exercise. At the end of the day when you return inside covered in dirt wiping the sweat from your brow. The last thing you should reach for is the aspirin because your knees and back feel like they’re going to fall off.
Thank you,
The Crams
