Advice for Gardeners as Spring Approaches

Main Category: Bones / Orthopedics
Article Date: 19 Mar 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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As spring approaches the garden may not always be the friendliest, or the healthiest place, warns the British College of Osteopathic Medicine. BCOM's naturopathic osteopathy clinics experience a surge in gardening-related injuries, strains and sprains at the onset and throughout the spring months, the most common types of which are lower back pain and strains to ligaments and joints.

Dr. Ian Drysdale, College Principal, said, "Every year the BCOM clinics prepare themselves for these gardening related injuries, but the majority of them are totally preventable. What happens is that people forget themselves and go in all gung-ho after the relative hibernation of the winter months, forgetting that their bodies need, like the gardens, to be coaxed in gently and limbered up over a period of time."

Dr. Drysdale gives some general advice to this year's gardeners:

• Do some gentle stretching before you start gardening to warm up muscles and joints.


• Kneel down when planting by placing both knees on a knee pad or kneeler, or even using an old cushion or blanket.


• If you are digging, use a small spade so you don't have to pick up too much, thereby putting strain on the back.


• Switch tasks about rather than doing hours of repetitive movement such as digging.


• When lifting anything, be it a small plant or a heavy bag of rubbish, remember to bend your knees and keep your back straight, both when picking up and putting down, whilst facing the direction in which the load is to be carried in order to avoid twisting the spine.


• Want to show off your mowing skills? If using a hover mower, you should push it in front of you and face the direction in which you are cutting the grass, rather than swinging it from side to side.


• Finally, never continue any activity if your back hurts and pace yourself to your own fitness level. Try to do no more than one and a half to two hours per day initially and work up slowly to longer days.

About BCOM

The British College of Osteopathic Medicine (BCOM) was founded in 1936 by Stanley Lief, the eminent naturopathic osteopath. It is a statutory regulated and accredited training facility, educational charity and centre of excellence in Osteopathic education, regulated by the Osteopaths act of 1993 and accredited by the General Osteopathic Council.

BCOM clinics provide high quality, low-cost treatment based on holistic, or naturopathic, osteopathy. This is a uniquely integrated approach, centring on the treatment and education of our patients not only in terms of their particular problem, but also in the wider context of their lifestyle and its effect on them.

Men, women and children of all ages come to BCOM Clinics for treatment of a wide variety of conditions. Patients are assured of the highest standards of care, with all treatments carried out by clinical students under strict supervision of qualified and experienced osteopaths.

Since its formation in 1936, the British College of Osteopathic Medicine has achieved an international reputation for the professional excellence of its teaching and qualifications. In 2008, BCOM launched its undergraduate Masters in Osteopathy, providing public funding to eligible students.

Source
British College of Osteopathic Medicine

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