Are you sitting at home, reading this article while nursing a sore lower back from an afternoon in the garden?
When I think of spending time gardening, I imagine images of blooming flowers, warm rays of sunshine, cold glasses of iced tea, and wide-brimmed hats.
However, if you’ve ever hobbled back into the house with your knees aching and lower back seizing up after spending too many hours crouched in the dirt, you know that image couldn’t be farther from the truth. Gardening can be as hard on your body as a full-on contact sport, regardless of how many cold glasses of iced tea you drink. As a certified Colorado Master Gardener and avid gardening enthusiast, trust me – I’ve been there, many times.
Thankfully, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that can help you tend to your garden without aching.
Why is Gardening Making You Sore?
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There’s a reason why gardening can leave your body sore and aching for days. Gardening is considered a beneficial form of exercise, according to Dr. Janel Gordon, medical expert at WISH-TV in Indianapolis. It’s strenuous enough to meet the physician-recommended 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week, and may improve cardiovascular health, lower blood pressure, and enhance muscle tone, dexterity, and balance.
We can all agree that the bending, twisting, digging, lifting, and hauling activities in the garden can definitely work up a sweat. If you don’t have the right tools or systems in place to protect yourself, the repetitive, physical tasks of gardening can begin to take their toll on your body. And if you’re dealing with arthritis, chronic pain, or limited mobility? The stakes are even higher to find a way to make gardening less strenuous on your bones.
Using information gleaned from my own experience as a Master Gardener and advice from Utah State University, I’ve compiled a list of tried and tested solutions to make your garden work for you and save your back in the future.
Warm Up Like a Gardener
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Now that we’ve established that gardening can be as tough on your body as any physical sport, it’s time for you to start treating it like it. Would you roll up to the gym and try to deadlift 200 pounds without warming up your body first? Absolutely not. Gardening shouldn’t be treated any differently than how you would approach any physical activity.
You need to warm up your body before starting any physical activity. Strenuous garden activity, such as lifting heavy bags of soil or building new raised beds, can wreak havoc on your knees and lower back. You can prevent hours of pain later on by taking just a few minutes ahead of your gardening session to activate your muscles and warm up your body.
Warm Up Exercises
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Start with gentle movement. Before you even pick up a tool, take a 10-minute walk. Meander your garden or go admire your neighbor’s yard down the block. This activity is warming up your joints, lubricating connective tissue, and switching your body into “garden” mode.
Next, work through a few motions that mimic what your body is about to do in the garden. You might consider:
- Toe touches (with bent knees if needed)
- Gentle back rotations
- Bodyweight squats (only go as low as you feel comfortable)
This doesn’t have to be a drawn-out routine. All you have to do is take 5 minutes and warm up your body to minimize those post-gardening aches and pains.
However, if you want more direction in your warm-up routine, consider yoga exercises. Lindsey Miller, a research biologist, flower farmer, and writer at Gardener’s Supply Company, curated a series of yoga moves to prepare gardeners for physical activity, guiding yogi gardeners through poses such as finger flexes, downward dog, and a seated forward bend. A YouTube video is even available for those who want additional instruction.
Tools That Do the Hard Work for You
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Beyond warming up your body to garden, there are numerous tools and tricks to adapt your garden to make it more friendly to your physical ability. From planter tables to long-handled garden tools, you can make gardening more accessible to your physical ability (or just make it more comfortable!) regardless of whether you have limited mobility, bad knees, or are just tired of being sore after hours of weeding.
Elevate Your Garden
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The easiest way to avoid kneeling in the garden? Bring the garden up to you. Adapt your garden or build a new one so that you can access the soil from a comfortable, seated or standing position. Planter boxes, table height containers, or raised beds that are elevated off the ground mean that you can weed, prune, and plant while standing or sitting.
Think About Seating
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Leveraging a good chair, sturdy bench, or even a milk crate can go a long way to making your afternoon in the garden a bit more comfortable. Assistive garden carts or padded garden scooters can also provide you with a seat (with added storage!) that allows you to easily roll it around as needed, no lifting required.
Grow Up
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Aside from elevating your garden off the ground, using vertical gardening techniques can also improve accessibility to your plants from a seated or standing position. Since there will be less time spent weeding and harvesting in this position, your back will thank you later.
Vertical setups can be especially helpful for those with limited mobility or joint issues, turning gardening into a more comfortable and sustainable activity over time. It can also help you to maximize your growing space!
Long-Handled and Ergonomic Tools
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It’s time to work smarter rather than harder. I recommend swapping out any tool that forces you to bend, hunch, or kneel. Long-handled tools like weeders, cultivators, trowels, or even pruners extend your reach and allow you to keep your spine upright from a seated or standing position.
If you want to take your investment in a new toolset a step further, ergonomic tools, like those designed with comfortable grips and lighter weight materials (such as aluminum or fiberglass), can make a big difference. If you suffer from arthritis or struggle with grip strength, the Arthritis Foundation even has an Ease of Use certification to identify tools that are designed to be more accessible. You can look for their seal of endorsement when you are shopping for new tools or peruse their website to find their recommendations for specific tool types.
Pad Your Knees
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If you still decide to kneel, at least give your joints some padding! Kneeling in gravel while hunched over the garden can leave you in serious pain after a few minutes. I recommend considering the following:
- Memory foam kneelers will cushion your joints from the ground and allow you to distribute your weight more evenly
- Knee pads with straps (my personal favorite) stay in place better than loose cushions, allowing you to move about the garden with ease and offering more support
- Looking for a new gardening outfit? Try gardening trousers with built-in knee pads. No more juggling gear!
Don’t Forget to Take Breaks!
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There’s no need to jump into a relentless 4-hour weeding marathon. I can’t even sit at the computer that long! Start with 15 to 30 minute sessions, especially in the early spring when your body is getting used to gardening physical activity again.
I recommend setting a timer when you are doing something physically strenuous, like weeding or heavy lifting. Work for 15-20 minutes and then take a 5-10 minute well-deserved iced tea or water break in the shade. You might even take a few minutes to stretch before getting back out in the garden to resume your work at the end of your break. Trust me – your back and knees will thank you.
Ergonomics Matter
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Ultimately, no tools or exercises are going to help if you’re putting yourself in repetitively awkward positions.
Dr. June Srisethnil, a Doctor of Physical Therapy with CityPT, shares, “One of the most important things gardeners can do is be mindful of their body mechanics,” she explains. “Keep your arms close to your body when lifting or reaching, and avoid twisting or bending from the waist repeatedly.”
Instead of staying hunched over for long periods, Dr. Srisethnil recommends alternating positions frequently to reduce strain. “Use a half-kneel or sit on a low stool when working at ground level, and try to keep your spine out of extreme positions for extended periods.” Taking regular breaks, switching tasks, and stretching throughout your gardening session can also go a long way in protecting your back, knees, and shoulders.
“Think of gardening like a workout,” she adds. “You wouldn’t go to the gym and do 50 reps of the same motion without form—treat your garden time with the same care.”
Gardening is an Adaptive Sport
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Many people think that you have to “tough it out” when gardening. As if using a stool instead of kneeling or choosing raised beds over rows makes you less of a gardener or something.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Using tools that allow you to adapt your approach to gardening to fit your physical limitations will make gardening more enjoyable for years to come. Adaptation is what separates quitting from continuing, and saving your body in the process.
Whether you invest in new long-handled tools, pad your knees, or install a new table height container, know that you can continue to garden and minimize the post-garden pain for years into the future. With these tricks, maybe gardening really will be blooming flowers, cold glasses of iced tea, and wide-brimmed hats. Just remember to warm up your body before you start!
