The lovely warm weather is here and those of us who garden are out in full force. For many of us, this is some of the hardest physical activity we do all year. Following a long weekend of weeding, earth moving, and planting the number of low achy backs often sky rockets!
So, how do you avoid sore and painful back injuries after a weekend in the sun? Let me explain…..
Hip vs Low Back Flexion
The hip is a ball and socket joint which is meant for large ranges of motion. In contrast, the spine has many smaller joints, each with little range. Because the lumbar spine also contains our spinal cord and nerve roots, damage to these structures can lead to conditions like sciatica, radiculopathies, disc bulges, and other unpleasant injuries that can take months to recover from.
Alternatively, an overstretched hip can result in pulled muscles, bursitis and strained ligaments. Although unpleasant, these injuries have a shorter heal times and no major implications to the nerve.
How do I best bend when gardening?
There is an important trade off/relationship between the hip and spine when bending over. The less flexible our hips are, the more flexion our backs must do. For many of us, our stiff hips are the cause of our overworked and injured back.
For my patients, I’d rather see them overstretch their hips, than strain their backs.
What can I do about it?
In short, we want to avoid prolonged lumbar flexion. There are two strategies to accomplish this.
- Work smarter not harder
- Bring the work to you by installing raised garden beds! This allows you to plant and weed without needed to bend over all the way to the ground
- Spend more of your time on all fours or kneeling positions. This unloads your spine and helps keep a more neutral position of your lumbar.
- Improve your hip flexibility
Try It Yourself!
Check out our gardening pics below:
Chanel on the left has more hip flexion and therefore needs no lumbar flexion. Aaron’s hips on the right only flex so far and the lumbar spine rounds/flexes to make up the difference.
So who’s going to hurt after gardening? Perhaps both! But ultimately Chanel would only injure her hips vs Aaron would injure his back and that, could take longer to heal.
Whether it’s your back or your hips, we’re here to help! For more tips, tricks or a fix we’ve got your back.
– Aaron Coulthard, Osteopathic Practitioner
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