If you want to plant a fall garden in Colorado, early August is the right time to get started. As someone with chronic back pain, you might find it difficult to bend over and tend to your plants. Fortunately, with the right gardening techniques – and treatment at Spine Correction Center of the Rockies – you can lessen your discomfort for the remainder of the season.
Tips for Gardening with Back Pain
- Warm up: Bending, lifting, carrying, hauling, and digging – these gardening tasks are more of a workout than you probably realize. That’s why it’s important to warm up before you head out into the yard, just as you would when exercising formally. At Spine Correction Center, we can help you pinpoint the best stretches for your capabilities and needs.
- Lift with care: When lifting heavy pots and full watering cans, make sure you squat and lift with your knees instead of your back. Always lift with both hands and hold the object as close to your body as possible. Use a wagon, dolly, or wheelbarrow to minimize lifting or request assistance from others.
- Take breaks: Don’t lose track of time while gardening with back pain or you may push your body too far and start to experience unpleasant symptoms. Change positions frequently and take water breaks as often as you need.
- Use kneelers and chairs for support: Getting down to ground level and back up again may be difficult or even impossible depending on the severity of your back pain. Kneelers with raised handles give you support as you drop down and lift back up. Some kneelers can be flipped around and converted into a small chair so you can change positions to make gardening with back pain more doable.
- Wear knee pads: Similar to kneelers, knee pads are all about allowing you to garden more comfortably in the position you prefer.
- Use a garden scooter: Reduce the need to kneel and stand back up with a garden scooter. This wheeled stool allows you to roll around the yard in a comfortable, seated position. The rotating seat also reduces the need to twist your spine.
- Try long-handled tools: The bending required when planting and pulling weeds puts a lot of strain on your back. Long-handled tools help you reach your target with less bending.
- Plant in raised beds: Plants grow in the ground, but that doesn’t mean you can’t bring the ground to you. One option is to plant your garden in raised beds. These are two to three feet tall, making your garden waist-high and drastically reducing how much you must bend.
- Plant a container garden: Another option is to plant flowers, herbs, and small vegetables in containers. Then, you can set these on a patio table or garden wall where they’re easy to tend to.
- Plant a vertical garden: A more unique idea is to plant a vertical or wall garden. With this option, plants grow in individual pots or special pockets mounted to a wall. Over time, the entire wall takes on a lush, green appearance, and you enjoy the back-saving benefits of gardening while standing!
- Scale your garden back: The reality is you may not be able to tend to a giant garden as you once did. Decide what’s most important to you and scale back the rest or assign weeding and watering tasks to others.
Schedule a Back Pain Consultation at Spine Correction Center
Whether you recently suffered a back injury or have dealt with chronic pain for years, it’s time to get back on track with treatments at Spine Correction Center in Fort Collins. We use integrated physical medicine to treat back pain, including spinal decompression, chiropractic care, physical therapy, and other proven treatments.
Tired of gardening with back pain? Call us now at (970) 658-5115 or contact us online to schedule your free back pain consultation today!
