Live Healthy Live Well

Gardening can help people stay active, provide plentiful food, and elevate mood but doing it incorrectly can lead to back pain, joint aches, and muscle strains.  Gardening can also be difficult for people with health conditions that limit movement (such as arthritis) or cause fatigue.  But with a few strategies, gardening can be a pleasurable and safe activity for all.

Each year, over 2 million people are injured during gardening or yard work activities, peaking in the spring and summer seasons.  Many of these injuries include low back pain and overuse injuries, which can be prevented or minimized.

Gardening is a year round “sport”!

The gardener must preserve in self care the year through, staying active in the dark winter months when we dreamily read seed catalogs, tending to our bodies so that when spring comes round again, we can prevent injury by cultivating our:

• Flexibility for bending to harvest and reaching a trellis;
• Strength for carrying buckets of compost and hoeing;
• Endurance so you can spend entire days outside; and
• Balance to prevent falls in precarious situations.

If exercising on its own does not call you, remember the higher vision:  

Find motivation in picturing yourself at peace in your garden.

Protecting Your Bones:  Gardening with Osteoporosis or Osteopenia (Excerpted from a newsletter of the Canadian Osteoporosis Patient Network (April 2014) & the International Osteoporosis Foundation)

Those of us with osteoporosis/-penia may worry that pain and fractures, or the fear of pain and fractures, will mean giving up our gardens.  Gardening involves walking, squatting, kneeling, digging, pulling and lifting, and all done in the fresh air.  As you hoe, plant, water and harvest, your body engages in effective weight-bearing and resistance activities that contribute to good bone health – as long as you start slowly and move safely.  For safe movement during gardening, follow guidelines and:

• Do not participate in exercises or movement that flex or rotate the spine.
• If you feel any new pain while gardening, stop immediately and consult with your health care provider.
• You may need to rethink your garden to make it easier to maintain. Decide which tasks are difficult or painful. You may decide to remove or change aspects of your garden to make it safer and easier to maintain.
• Break loads into smaller portions, carrying 2 light buckets instead of one.
• If you need to reach down for something, try bending from the hips and keep your back straight.
• Make sure you take regular breaks so as not to become tired and thereby increase the risk of injury.
• Don’t hesitate to get help for specific tasks if required. Leave to others the tasks which may involve heavier lifting, or are too physically challenging. You might be surprised at how many neighbors or friends would be happy to help if asked!
• Go slowly and don’t get frustrated – it doesn’t matter if you can’t do everything at once.

For more information, visit a Physical Therapist specializing in Bone Health.

Source:  Ohio State University Extension, 2017 Ohio Master Gardener Volunteer Conference, Growing Strong:  Self-Care & Fitness for the Gardener, Laura Ann Bergman, Physical Therapist Assistant, Ohio Health, laura.bergman@ohiohealth.com

Source:  Growing Strong:  Self Care and Fitness for the Gardener, OhioHealth Inc. 2013.  Special thanks to:  The Ohio Health Foundation for Grady Memorial Hospital for supporting the creation of this workshop and publication.

Books:
Gardener’s Fitness – Weeding out the Aches and Pains, Barbara Pearlman.
Gardener’s Yoga – 40 Yoga Poses to Help Your Garden Flow, Veronica D’Orazio.

Tools:
www.amleo.com
www.greenherontools.com

References:  The American Occupational Therapy Association at www.aota.org ; The American Physical Therapy Association at www.apta.org ; University of Virginia Cooperative Extension, Gardening and Your Health series at https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/426/426-065/426-065_pdf.pdf ; AgrAbility at https://agrability.osu.edu/  ; and Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety at www.ccohs.ca

Adapted by:  Janet Wasko Myers, Program Assistant, Horticulture, Ohio State University Extension, Clark County, myers.31@osu.edu

Reviewed by:  Kathy Green, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, Ohio State University Extension, Clark County, green.1405@osu.edu