Most gardeners are aware of using their legs to lift, using a straight back to dig or rake, not stooping over to shovel. However, many gardeners are unaware of the hazards of crouching forward for long periods of time. They may not even associate subsequent pain in walking or standing with the gardening they love.

We know that workers need to use precautions to avoid repetitive motion injuries, and athletes need to stretch, train and tone for their muscles to work optimally. The same thing is true of recreational gardeners. But we often don’t do it because we want to plant just one more plant, or finish the row, or get it done before dark, or before it starts to rain: it is too easy to get lost in the enjoyment of gardening. So we neglect our bodies, and our bodies’ signals of pain or discomfort.

The back is designed very well to support the upper body standing or sitting upright in a state of balance. It is not designed very well for a sustained forward bend. The discs of the low back act as cushions between the vertebrae. When the body is leaning forward, there may be sustained pressure on the front of the discs and a decrease in circulation. There may also be and a sustained contraction in the psoas, also called iliopsoas, or flexor muscles of the hip and the pelvis may be tilted or rotated. Small muscles tighten up to brace, and then when you stand, they get stretched suddenly, and it hurts.

It may not hurt until later, when additional demands are placed are on the low back muscles during walking or a change of position, such as digging, or driving. If the pelvis does not regain fluidity of movement, you may find pain and tension up the back and into the neck, or down the legs and into the calves.

It is surprising to many people, including gardeners and desk workers, how sustained forward flexion at the hips can affect the back. As the body unconsciously tenses, more muscles are engaged in a holding pattern of contraction or guarding. People may lose awareness that they are creating potential discomfort during habitual postural contractions, or lose sensation.

When you are willing to attend to the small signals that mean: “get up, move around”, you can avoid the greater pains that follow. If you listen to your body, take frequent breaks from sustained forward bending or crouching, and apply appropriate stretches, you are well on your way to awaken the kinesthetic sense of how to move freely again.

There are many strengthening and stretching exercises. However, if you have existing tension patterns in your low back or sacrum or an anterior or posterior pelvic tilt or rotation, or have lost sensation in muscles that have fallen into disuse, it is better if those conditions are addressed first. Attempting to stretch a strained muscle will not allow it to relax, and may even increase the pain.

What if you have missed the boat on preventative maintenance? Positional Release, Ortho-Bionomy®, neuromuscular techniques and various massage techniques are very effective at allowing the body to come into a state of relaxation and release out of the tension patterns of the back, glutes, sacrum, psoas, and the deep, lateral rotators of the hip.

If you are a gardener, and have pain in any of these areas, I would be happy to work with you, so you learn to restore ease and comfort in sitting, standing and walking, to relieve the strain of those muscles, to find a good night’s sleep and another fine day of gardening!