As a physical therapist, I frequently have patients that come to me for evaluation with complaints of pain that started with working on their lawn or in their garden. I commonly hear how they didn’t feel too much while in the act of doing lawn work or gardening but when they get up the next morning, they can hardly move due to pain. After evaluating how my patients move when they perform everyday activities, I commonly find issues with how they lift, pull, push, and bend. If they had moved with better mechanics and posture during these pain-provoking outdoor activities, these patients could have avoided their injury in the first place.
From how to have good movement mechanics while performing outdoor activities to exercises that you can do before and after yardwork, this blog will discuss many strategies that can help keep you moving without limitation or pain.
Raking and Hoeing
Most frequently, people will complain of back pain with raking in their yard or hoeing in their garden. When it comes to performing these activities, it is important to make sure that your rake or hoe is lightweight so that it isn’t as fatiguing for your neck and shoulders to be pulling your tool across the ground. Also, make sure that the rake or hoe handle is tall enough—the end of the handle should come to at least your nose. This will ensure that you don’t have to stoop forward as you use it, reducing the stress placed on your low back.
For raking and hoeing with proper movement mechanics and posture, try to follow these tips:
Position both hands on the tool handle, one slightly above the other, while keeping your elbows slightly bent. Alternate your hand placement every few minutes to avoid over-working one side. The top hand should be at the top of the rake or hoe and the bottom hand should be about ¾ of the way to the top
Use the strength of your arms and legs to pull the rake or hoe and keep your back straight. Don’t lean forward and pull with your back
Keep your legs staggered slightly
Keep your legs pointed in the direction that you are raking or hoeing to avoid twisting in the back
Avoid excessive rotation in your back while working and keep the rake or hoe close to your body
Keep Rake Close Don't Reach Rake
Bagging or Removing Leaves
When picking up the leaves or material that you have raked up, be sure to bend at the hips and knees rather than rounding forward in your back as you lift. If you have difficulty with repetitive squatting, you can try kneeling with one leg bent up in front of the other to reach the leaves in front of you and place the material in the bag or wheelbarrow.
If you have bagged your leaves, when you lift the bags, don’t forget to lift with your legs by bending at the hips and knees before lifting the bag. Also, don’t hold your breath as you lift! Gently exhale as you lift the bag and make sure that your back stays straight.
Mowing
When mowing, make sure that your shoulders are relaxed and not pulled up towards your ears. This can help reduce any neck pain that you may experience after mowing. This applies to both push mowing and riding on a mower!
If you are riding, make sure that you aren’t slouching forward—keep your chest up tall and gently squeeze your shoulder blades together. If your seat is adjustable, adjust it so that your low back can rest easily against the seat back.
If you are push mowing, lean forward from your ankles and use your body weight to walk the mower forward. Make sure that your back is straight and that your low back isn’t curved excessively due as you push the mower. If you feel that your low back is arched as you push, keep your core engaged by pulling your belly button in towards your spine.
Using a Wheelbarrow
When using your wheelbarrow, make sure that the load is balanced in the wheelbarrow and is secured adequately so that you do not have to quickly catch a sliding load. Be sure to position yourself between the two handles rather than behind them. Before lifting the wheelbarrow, bend your knees so as to reach the handles and then straighten your legs as you lift the wheelbarrow up.
When pushing your wheelbarrow, avoid reaching your arms forward to push it. Keep your body positioned between the handles as you walk and use your bodyweight to move the wheelbarrow forward. This cam help decrease potential back pain development.
When dumping the wheelbarrow, lean the weight of your body in rather than reaching far forward with your arms.
Do This! Not This!
Shoveling and Digging
A common injury with gardening that I encounter with patients is low back pain after doing a lot of shoveling or digging while gardening. This can often be avoided by having good posture while performing this activity.
When digging a hole, make sure that your body and shovel blade are facing the same direction. As you plant the shovel into the ground, lean your weight onto the shovel rather than trying to push it into the ground. Make sure that the shovel load is moderately sized if the ground is dry but make it smaller if the ground is wet to avoid excessive straining to lift the full shovel.
When going to lift a full shovel, keep your feet staggered a little and squat down slightly by bending at your hips and knees. As you lift, shift your weight onto your back leg while standing up from the squatting position. Don’t lift by simply bending and straightening your low back. As you move to dump the shovel load, move your whole body and avoid excessively rotating your back.
Don't Lift Like This! Lift Like This!
Don't Just Twist Your Back Turn Your Whole Body!
Planting Seeds
Planting seeds is another activity that can result in low back pain as it involves so much bending. Try these tips to reduce the amount of bending that you have to do and avoid low back pain!
If you are making a trench for your seeds, keep the hoe close your body and drag it through the dirt as you walk, using your bodyweight to do most of work.
For the actual planting, it can be tedious and time-consuming to plant long rows of seeds that have to be spaced out appropriately. Consider making seed tape to limit the amount of time you have to spend close to the ground. To make seed tape, sit or stand at a table or bench that is a comfortable height where you don’t have to bend forward. Take a roll of thin 1 ply toilet paper and put dots of non-toxic glue at the desired spacing of seeds. Or, instead of glue, you can use a combination of 2 tablespoons of white flour and 1 tablespoon of water to make your own glue. Stick the seed on the dot of glue. If you have problems with the joints of your hands, consider using tweezers or a turkey baster to help move the seeds. Allow the glue to dry and then store your seed tape in a dry place until it is time for planting. To plant, just put the seed tape on the ground and lightly cover with dirt.
Working at Low Levels
When trimming plants, it may be helpful to sit on a stool positioned directly in front of the area that you are trimming. Move the stool around the plants rather than bending and twisting your back to get at hard to reach areas. Or, kneel with one leg bent up in front of the other if you are unable to sit on a bucket or stool.
If you are working on a planter or pot, try to elevate it to a comfortable standing height. Keep any tools that you need at the same level as you to avoid having to frequently squat or lift items to your work level.
Weeding
Weeding can be tough since you have to get so low to the ground, making it easy to really round forward in your back. If you have a sturdy bucket or stool, sit on it as you weed. Make sure that you are sitting with upright posture and not slouching! If you have to lean forward to reach a weed, bend forward at the waist and avoid rounding in the back.
If you are trying to pull tall weeds that won’t come out of the ground easily, squat down by bending at the hips and knees while keeping one foot on either side of the weed. Pull it out by slowly by standing back up from the squat position while keeping your back straight. That way your legs muscles are helping you remove the weed from the ground and you aren’t straining excessively with your low back muscles.
Pruning
When pruning, it is very important to have sharp shears. Trying to cut branches where you have to squeeze hard and twist repetitively due to dull tools can result in wrist, elbow, and shoulder pain.
Make sure that you have the right sized tool for the job you are doing too! Putting a lot of effort into trying to cut a large branch with a small pair of shears can be time consuming and fatiguing as well. For small stems of branches or stems of up to 3/4” in diameter you can uses small hand-held pruners. For thicker branches of up to 1 ½” – 2”, use a pair of loppers—the longer the lopper handles, the larger the cut size.
If you are working on pruning a tree, having the correct ladder height is important for both maintaining your balance and avoiding low back pain. You should ideally be working at chest level and not reaching overhead while pruning. If you do need to reach upwards for any pruning, make sure that you keep your core tight (pull your belly button back towards your spine) and avoiding arching excessively in your low back region.
Stretching Before and After Yardwork
Before you go out to work in the garden or yard, try these exercises to get you prepared for the physical activity that you are about to do!
1. Thoracic Rotations
Begin by lying on your side with both legs bent at a 90 degree angle and your arms straight in front of you on the ground
Slowly move your top arm away from your other arm and toward the floor on your other side, rotating your trunk at the same time
Try to touch your shoulder blade to the floor while keeping your hips facing straight forward
Bring your arm back and repeat
2. Knee to Chest Stretch
Begin by lying on your back with one leg bent and your other leg straight
Pull you bent knee toward your chest and hold for 30-45 seconds
Repeat twice on each side
3. Nerve Flossing
Begin by lying on your back
Grasp one leg behind your thigh and straighten that knee
Bend your foot down toward your body, then away toward the ceiling, keeping your leg in the straightened position
Repeat this movement 25 times on each side
4. Squats
Begin by standing tall with your feet shoulder width apart
Bend your knees, sitting your hips back with your chest upright
Return to standing and repeat 25 times
Other General Tips
Don’t overdo it! Change to a different activity every 15-20 minutes to avoid prolonged repetitive movements that can contribute to injury.
Avoid lifting heavy objects immediately after prolonged bending or pulling activities.
Pushing is always better than pulling when feasible.
Use a cart or wheelbarrow to move heavy tools or material to the location that you are using them.
Start with smaller or easier projects and gradually build up the activity level intensity.
If you’re going to spend awhile kneeling, use a kneeling pad to reduce the pressure on your knee cap.
Wear gloves! If your load slips because you lost your grip, the awkward movement that you do to catch what you were carrying can result in injury.
If you experience pain (not just light muscle soreness), contact a physical therapist for evaluation.
Thank you!
Don’t hesitate in reaching out to me with any questions that you might have!
Email: emily@rxdpt.com
Phone: (989)318-3839
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