Tips for Pain Free Gardening

Bending and kneeling: what not to do: when you are weeding or you are going to lift something, don't just bend at the waist!

Bend your knees. It's worth repeating: bend your knees!

When lift something off the ground, get in the habit of squatting down, balancing your weight through your heels, engage your abdominal muscles, and use your thighs to push yourself up to a standing position.


If you weed from a standing position - bent over - still bend your knees. If you are yanking out stubborn weeds you could easily strain your back. Absorb some of the strain with your knees. Try resting one arm on your thigh with your knees bent as you weed from this position and then switch arms. Weed ambidextrously! After ten minutes stand up and try these stretches for your hands and arms:

Extend your right hand out in front of you, pull your fingers back toward you, and stretch through the palm. Do this on both sides. Then interlace your fingers in front of your body, reach up high, lean gently to the right then the left. Then with your fingers still interlaced, push out in front of you and round out your upper back.

If you can, clasp your hands behind your back and squeeze your shoulder blades together and down. Open up your chest. Take three deep breaths.

Drop your arms down to your sides. Make a fist with each hand and turn them so they face to the back and the side. Curl your fists upward and then backward in each position, rolling your fists and stretching your forearms.

Feel better?


If you kneel when you are weeding or digging with a hand spade in the garden, don't kneel on both knees. Keep one of your feet flat on the ground - this will give your back more stability.

There are lots of little gardening stools and seats available, but I've never been able to use one. I move around too much, a stool just gets in my way.

I do like a kneely-pad, especially when the ground is still damp.


While most gardeners tend to wear their old, ratty shoes while gardening, stability and support from the ground up is very important for moving properly and staying injury-free. Your feet should feel supported and your ankles shouldn't wobble. Make sure you have a comfortable pair of shoes with good arch support in them just for gardening.

(Do not garden in flip flops, please - I beg you.)

More Tips For Pain Free Gardening

On the first nice day many of us have the impulse to jump into our gardens and do everything we can: rake, cutback, transplant, mulch.. but if you hurt yourself on the first day, you may not get back out there all week or even all season. So go easy! Do a little the first day and then a little more the next. And try some of these stretches to help ward off injuries caused by manic-spring-gardening. (If you already have back problems or an injury, ask your doctor before adding these stretches to your pre-gardening routine.)

Take five or ten minutes before you tackle your spring-clean up and loosen up. The previous post covered some hamstring stretches and some shoulder and neck movements. Now, lets stretch our spine.

Spine stretch - Sit on the floor with your legs straight out and feet together. Contract your abdominal muscles and curl your shoulders forward (creating a C with your spine) and reach for your toes. You are not simply folding your body in half - no- you are arching your spine as you bend, separating your shoulder blades and stretching out the spaces in between your vertebrae. Roll back up, squeeze your shoulder blades together, and repeat six times.

The Saw - Still sitting on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you, spread your feet about shoulder-width apart. Sitting up very tall, raise your arms out to your sides, (perpendicular to the floor) and twist your body. Lean forward and reach your right hand to your left foot. "Saw" off your left foot's little toe with your right pinky-finger (but this is not a back and forth motion - just a Pilates misnomer). Very gently lean a little more forward with each exhale for three breaths, then sit up and untwist. Then twist to the other side and lean forward and "Saw" off the toes of your right foot. Be gentle, don't force or bounce, and remember to twist, THEN lean forward - sit up and THEN untwist. Repeat six times.

And let's not forget our feet. Stand on the bottom step of your stairs on the balls of your feet (Hold on to the railing or wall to keep your balance). Letting the back of the feet and heels droop over the edge. Gently allow your weight to stretch out the bottom of your feet and stretch your calves. Don't bounce.

While you are gardening, especially the first few days, try not to spend too much time in the same position. Pick a section. Cut back brown stalks. Rake that little area. Dump your tarp or pop-up weed bag. (Spray the clean section with deer-repellent!!!!! They'll eat anything this time of year!) Then start a new little section.

The point is - try not to spend more than ten minutes in one position - mix it up. The other benefit of doing small little sections is you won't load up your tarp or weed bag too heavy. Drag small loads to your compost pile. So it's a few more trips? Go easy, gentle... happy and pain-free.

Stretching For Pain Free Gardening

Spring has arrived! But after a winter curled up with books by the fire, a day of gardening can be followed by two or three days of pain. The next few posts will be dedicated to stretches that will help ward off injuries from gardening. (If you already have back problems, ask your doctor before adding these stretches to your pre-gardening routine.)

Here are two of my favorites. Many people don't realize that some back injuries can be caused from tightness in the hamstrings (the muscles that run up and down the backs of your thighs). With all the bending and squatting that gardening requires, stretching your hamstrings can help avoid sciatica pain (literally a pain in the butt).

Single leg stretch - Lie flat on the carpet or a yoga mat, if you have one. Lift your head off the floor (this helps alleviates strain by keeping your lower back firmly planted) and bring your right knee to your chest. Very gently, tug your knee closer twice, then switch legs and repeat, keeping your head up off the mat. Five or six times on each leg should loosen you up.


Single straight leg stretch - Still lying flat, after you've rested your neck for a few breaths, lift your head again, keep you legs straight, and pull your right leg towards you - holding on to where ever is comfortable: your thigh, your calf or your ankle. Tug the leg toward you twice very gently, and switch legs. Repeat five or six times on each leg.


Another habit to get into before you grab your gardening gloves (or even other times like before you sit down at your computer!) is roll your shoulders forward in a circular motion - lifting them up towards your ears and then pushing them down as far as they will go - squeezing your shoulder blades together and then spreading them apart in the motion. Then reverse and roll your shoulders backwards. Then move your head from side to side (gently!) to loosen up your neck and shoulders.

Do these stretches before and after raking, digging or weeding (A ten minute walk before and after will help also - warm up those muscles as well as loosen them).

And finish the whole day with a warm bath with 2 cups of Epsom salts. Old-fashioned, I know, but it works. Pain-free gardeners are happy gardeners.