Gardening Tips
-
Plan your workload – it is important to have a few tasks on the go at the same time, but work a little on each every time you go into the garden, your body will much prefer the variety of tasks.
-
Pace yourself - do not try and dig the whole vegetable patch in one morning, your back and muscles will find it very strenuous.
-
Pruning – do this in moderation it puts a lot of strain on your forearm muscles which can lead to tennis elbow, try and use two hands for tough pruning, also stretching out your forearm muscles will help to reduce muscle soreness.
-
Consider your equipment – use long handled tools if you have problems with your hips, knees or your back
-
Use a kneeler – this will reduce the pressure through the knees
-
Don’t overfill the wheelbarrow – it is better to make a few extra journeys with a lighter load
-
Maintain good posture - squat down and bend at the knees, kneel whilst planting or weeding, don’t just bend at your back.
-
Set a timer to tell you when to have a break, or you may lose track of time and just keep going.
Gardening Self Help Exercises
Here are some simple exercises to do before and after gardening.
Please be aware of your body and take advice from your GP before exercising or send an email to enquiries@physio-logical.net for advice and guidance.
Lumbar Spine Side Flexion
-
Stand with your arms by your sides.
-
Slowly bend sideways by sliding your hand down your thigh towards the floor.
-
Slowly return to neutral position and repeat on the other side.
-
Repeat 5 times on each side hold the last once for a 30 second stretch on each side.
Thoracic Spine Rotation
Shoulder Rolls and Shrugs
-
Roll your shoulders forwards and backwards
-
Shrug your shoulders up and down
-
Repeat each movement 5 times
Forearm Stretches
-
Extend one arm out with elbow straight and use the other hand to grasp it at the side of the thumb and bend the wrist downward.
-
Then, face your palm up and pull your hand back gently to feel a stretch in the forearm
-
Hold each stretch for 30 seconds repeat x 2
If you want to make sure you are gardening fit or are struggling with any niggles, aches or pains which are preventing you from enjoying your gardening then please get in contact with us via enquiries@physio-logical.net or 07835 712306.
Pace yourself, and enjoy a long summer ahead. Don’t let your first trip to the garden be your only one.
Happy gardening!
Awards
Photo: Alan Mak MP celebrates with winners at the 2016 Havant Small Business Awards
We have a small ask. Please can you consider nominating us for Best Health and Beauty business award. It would be wonderful for our amazing team to get some recognition, we've worked very hard to get to where we are, thank you in advance - https://www.alanmak.org.uk/Nominate
Physio-logical Exercise Sheets
Don’t forget to check out our self-help exercise sheets on our website. Please take a look at http://www.physio-logical.net/exercise-sheets/
Gift Vouchers
Sports massage (Havant clinic only) and physiotherapy vouchers make an ideal gift, for more information please email enquiries@physio-logical.net.
Social Media
We are always updating our social media sites with news and offers please like us on Facebook, follow us on twitter and instagram, also connect with us on linked in. Please also feel free to share any content we post with friends, family, colleagues who maybe interested. We will be running a competition for the chance to win a free physiotherapy assessment with Natalie at our Havant clinic on Facebook so please keep an eye out for this.
Testimonials / Referrals
It’s always great to hear about your experiences at Physio-logical, if you would like to leave feedback you can leave it directly on our Facebook page, Google Havant page or Google Basingstoke page or drop us an email.
We would like to thank everyone for our recent recommendations, our business is built on referrals so please feel free to share this newsletter and tell your friends/family/colleagues about Physio-logical.
For more tips and guidance, please visit www.physio-logical.net
