Tips for Gardeners with Joint Pains
Many of my patients love their gardens and there is a real sense of loss and frustration when faced with mobility issues and pain causing barriers to being able to enjoy working in them.
I am a massive fan of gardening; I know the sense of enjoyment and pride it can bring transforming a space into something functional like a patio and the satisfaction gardeners get from planting an area to bring out the best in it aesthetically. I also understand the work though that these processes involve, including:
The thought and time that goes into designing an area.
Budgeting factors.
Technical considerations like soil pH and sunlight positioning.
Work of digging out garden beds, turning soil, sifting stones and slabbing areas.
This can take its toll especially manually even for those who are fit and able bodied. For those with pre-existing conditions involving symptoms of muscle/joint pain or mobility issues, continuing with their love of gardening can bring additional challenges. However, before bringing in professional garden maintenance services, there are strategies which can maintain people’s own gardening ability.
Pacing
We don’t always get warning signs that we are overdoing it and then suffer a flare up 24 hours later. From personal experience, gardening (especially on an incline) can be felt in the Lumbar spine, Quadriceps and Glutes, and occasionally strain in the shoulders and forearms. It is very easy to lose track of time when you are doing something that you love, though it is really not ideal to have to manage the flares of pain and stiffness that can follow, particularly when these affect your daily function.
Learning your time limits for manual work and sticking to them can help prevent these flares. Additionally, taking regular breaks during gardening and positional changes will help prevent postural and repetitive strain. Indeed, if the average office worker should be taking five minutes break away from the desk and screen every hour, it logically makes sense that manual work will definitely need breaks and even more so frequently.
Furthermore, learning not to get side tracked and completing all gardening tasks in one day but sticking to a single agreed job like clearing the borders is probably one of the most difficult things for gardening enthusiasts to do but equally one of the most important.
Gardening Appliances
While home stores and supermarkets sell gardening equipment, specialist appliances to help offload joints and lessen muscle strain are best found stocked in gardening centres or online.
One of the common appliances used are kneeling pads. These really offload knee joint discomfort and with the majority of people over 25 years of age showing some signs of knee joint wear and tear they are arguably a staple for all gardeners.
However, as joints become more affected by wear, even the positioning of kneeling on a pad and then having to manoeuvre back into the standing position can become too much for some people. What I typically hear cited more from my community Physiotherapy patients who still garden, is the use of gardening seats. These reduce the load on the knees, and some versions have arms to push up through and assist into standing. Of note though, there will be extra bend required through the back when gardening to still be able to get down to lower planting levels.
A final mention under appliances are long handled tools. Again, these reduce the degree of bend and stretch required through the hips, knees and back though will not completely eliminate strain when dealing with garden beds at ground level.
Switch up Plant Content
Annuals such a Petunias and Marigolds bring beautiful colour to a garden, though die off every year and debris usually needs removed. There is also a cost involved with replacement planting for the next season. Perennial’s such as Montbretias will bring colour and come back yearly, though die off in the winter leaving bare areas in the winter.
It may be worth making the change and investing in Evergreens. Many Evergreens will also bring beautiful colour during the Spring and Summer seasons. If selected correctly, slow growing variants will also negate the need to use heavy tools such as trimmers for rapid growth, and can be managed with simple lighter pruning tools. Camelias are a good example with varieties typically yielding large red or pink flowers in bloom season.
Garden Design
The strategies mentioned above can help in the early stages of conditions which give rise to pain, stiffness and mobility, though given time sometimes contracting in landscaping or joinery services to make changes to garden design may be more appropriate. Raised bed allow people to work at a higher level and reduce the muscle and joint strain compared to working at ground level.
Furthermore, mounted planters are a cheap and effective way to eliminate bend/kneel loading.
Wishing all fellow gardening enthusiasts a long and extended lifetime of gardening.
Libby x
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