Gardening is a great way to keep yourself, not just physically fit, but mentally fit as well. It is well documented that Gardening has many great health benefits, and that isn’t just because of the fresh air. In this article we will look at some of the reasons Gardening can be useful whatever your age or fitness level.
Why Garden?
Gardening is such a simple affair, but it has been shown to help calm the mind, increase cardiovascular fitness and even boost our immune systems. When we garden we come into contact with soil, and soil is full of tiny organisms and bacteria that help us to stay healthy. As most people are probably aware these days, we are absolutely interdependent on bacteria, and it is important that we keep our levels of good bacteria high, to stay healthy. Messing about with soil is a great way to add some bugs into the equation. 😀
Gardening has also been shown to be useful in helping to calm people with dementia, we don’t fully understand why being around plants can feel so good, but there is no doubt, that whether you are working in a large space, or simply pruning a few pots. Gardening is great for anxiety. Plants give off oxygen, so people who surround themselves with plants tend to get higher oxygen levels, in fact areas that have higher levels of plants also have been shown to have higher oxygen concentrations! Oxygen therapy is big business these days, so fill your garden with plants and you can get it for free!
Gardening is generally low cost and suitable for all ages and most disabilities, it truly is an activity for everyone. Aside from the mental benefits, there are some great physical benefits as well.
Gardening for Strength & Fitness
When we garden we often think of digging and lifting and this is a key area of keeping your garden healthy. Digging over soil, raking up leaves, even mowing the lawn all take effort. Add in a hedge or two and you are almost doing a weight training session! Just one hour of light activity in the garden, so raking leaves, mowing the lawn, pruning etc. can burn 200-400 calories. Add in digging, or planting and you could increase this up to 600calories. Trimming your hedge, with a weighty hedge trimmer, could burn another 400 calories! Gardening will certainly get your heart rate up, all whilst enjoying that mental health boost from your surroundings.
However, your muscles are also getting a work out. If you are planting out your spring plants, you will be constantly kneeling down and getting up. This is similar to a squat, you would perform in the gym. A squat, or planting in this case, is great for keeping your legs strong and healthy. Reaching up to trim a tall plant, with a pair of secateurs over your head, requires, not just strength, but balance, core muscle involvement and co-ordination. These are all essential for keeping you fit and healthy.
This also makes it a great alternative for people who don’t like the gym, can’t afford to join a gym, or need something lower impact than the gym to help them stay healthy.
Pain Management & Joint Health
Many people who have joint issues actually find gardening helpful. The slow rhythmic movement of mowing or raking leaves can help keep your back and hips moving. By bending down to weed, or reaching up to prune, you help to move your joints through their extremities, reducing stiffness and improving mobility.
Biomechanics, however is important, even when we garden. Lifting a wheelbarrow with your legs, rather than just your arms and back, will help you avoid back strains. We all too often see people who have lifted a wheelbarrow and “popped” their backs. If you are lifting and moving heavy stone, patio slabs, or plants, it is really important to bend your knees and lift with your legs. Rounding your back and relying on arm strength will eventually damage your spine.
Like any exercise it is important to warm up your body before you go for the heavy jobs. In the garden, this would mean starting with the easier jobs, perhaps water the garden, or rake the garden, this involves gentle movements and twisting actions that help to warm your joints and muscles up. Then head to the jobs that involve leaning down, or reaching up. These tend to include extremes of movements, which are great for joint health, but require warmer muscles to avoid injury. Finally, hit those heavy tasks, such as lifting, carrying or using heavy machinery. That way you are fully warmed up and ready to go, so much less likely to injure yourself.
Sadly, most of us have a rather more “gung-ho” approach to gardening, and a sunny day will see us rushing out to get all those jobs done we have neglected over recent months. As a result, at The Reinge Clinic, we tend to get calls with clients complaining of a sore back, wrist, knees or shoulders.🤣 That is ok though, we can generally fix these quickly and easily, ready for the next gardening window.
Gardening Tips for All Abilities
Gardening can be suitable for all, even those in wheelchairs or with limited mobility. Gardens can be all sizes and shapes, with raised beds for those who struggle or can’t kneel down. Even if you use a raised bed, you are still reaching, stretching and digging with a trowel. This still has the same effect of strengthening up your body and helping with mobility.
If you have issues with your hands, or arthritis brewing, there are some great gardening ergonomic aids now to make gardening much easier. These include tools that keep your wrist in a much more neutral position, reducing the strain on your wrist and hands generally. Even if you can only do a small amount of gardening, it will help keep your wrists and hands moving and strong, which is essential in an osteoarthritic situation.
If you don’t have a garden, well, many towns now have community gardens, allowing you to get involved with keeping you local community planted up, without worrying about constant upkeep of your own garden. In Kenilworth there is a great group that local residents can get involved with. Take a look here.
How The Reinge Clinic Can Help
We treat many professional gardeners at The Reinge Clinic. Many come for a regular Sports Massage, to keep them fit and able to do their jobs. Often we help them get stronger, so they can mange the many electric tools they use. Often these are very heavy and used in extreme positions, thereby needing additional core and upper body strength to handle safely on a daily basis.
Our recreational gardeners come in all age groups. Younger clients who underestimated the work needed and hurt their backs, or older clients finding it harder and in need of strength work. No matter which group you belong to, we are able to use our skills of Biomechanics, Sports Therapy and Physiotherapy to get you back into the garden quickly and efficiently. If you garden regularly, we would certainly suggest a regular Sports Massage to keep yourself in tip top shape and avoid any gardening related injuries. 😀
