Its Spring! If you are like me, you are getting out into the garden and enjoying our beautiful weather in Chicagoland. Our goal at Bowers Chiropractic Center is to help you avoid injury and recover quickly if you happen to get injured. Please consider these preventative steps to healthier spring gardening:

Think of gardening as a sport.

• Prepare for your “event” by planning your gardening: don’t get into four hours of gardening on your first outing. You need to build up your endurance! Plan for 45 minutes to start.  Rotate jobs – don’t do one thing in high repetition. I know there’s a lot to be done. I am trying to make sure you enjoy it tomorrow.
• Stretching your muscles will really help minimize the stress. Especially the muscles around your low back and hips. (There are great ones under the stretching section of this website).
• Don’t lift those forty pound bags of dirt, mulch, chips …Use a shovel and cut them open. Shovel them into a wheel barrow. Break it into small loads. Bending is where most of the damage occurs. Carry a load to the garden then disperse it before going and reloading. It will give you more recovery time. This will disperse the stress through other areas and avoid one muscle getting overdone.
• Proper tool use is important. Use the tool as it is meant to be used. Only use a tool that is in good working order.  Keep yourself close to your work. Don’t reach far away to lift, dig, pull or pry. If you can make a work surface to pot or mix on, you will save so much effort. A workbench or old door across fence corners will do nicely.

Now, if you do get hurt, don’t avoid the issue. Get ice on the area quickly to stop swelling and reduce pain. Rest. Chiropractic adjusting will promote the body’s natural healing as well. Enjoy!