Gardening can cause back pain and overuse injuries.
Safety suggestions include:
- Avoid long gardening sessions.
- Warm up before gardening with slow, sustained stretches and remember to do basic back stretches during your gardening.
- Rotate your tasks to avoid repetitive movements. For example, after 15 minutes of raking, swap to pruning for a while.
- Rest frequently and relax in the shade with a drink of water.
- Avoid uncomfortable positions.
- Bend at the knees and don’t strain when lifting heavy objects. If the object is too heavy for you, seek help.