New Year, new garden

As we start 2023 it is a great opportunity for people to get into their gardens and do all the jobs that they have put off in the wetter months of the year. If you are off work over the holiday period it may be your best chance to do some home improvement, landscaping or even getting some weeding done. It’s the time of year people throw themselves headfirst into heavy lifting, digging or carrying. All of these activities can be great forms of exercise. Unfortunately in some cases eagerness to get jobs done can lead to soreness or injury.

Some of the most common issues we see in the clinic can be aggravated or caused by gardening.

Low back pain:

This is one of our top presentations to the clinic. The constant bending forward pulling weeds and digging into hard ground are prime candidates to aggravate the low back. For older gardeners a history of degenerative disc injury or osteoarthritic change in the lumbar spine are often a good predictor that excessive gardening may cause low back pain.

Wrist and Elbow pain:

Overuse injuries in the wrist and elbow are very common in gardeners. Repetitive movements such as pruning rose bushes, using a chainsaw or trimming a hedge all require grip strength for an extended period of time, this can overload the elbow or wrist joint and cause pain. Common wrist and elbow injuries in gardeners include lateral or medial epicondylitis and carpal tunnel syndrome plus many more.

Knee pain:

Often gardening involves getting your hands dirty, squatting down and spending extended periods on your knees is sometimes necessary to do some weeding, paving or planting. This can have adverse effects on your knees. Injuries may include irritation of OA knee joint, patello femoral fat pad impingement just to name two.

How can an Osteopath help?

As Osteopaths we can help to diagnose the cause of your pain, design a treatment plan specific to you to address your injury, come up with a management plan that may include rehabilitation exercises to help you avoid injury in the future and most importantly get you back into the garden as soon as possible.

Contact us at 13th Beach Health Services so we can keep you in the garden.

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