Gardening without hurting your back
Gardening is one of the most common activities that brings people into the clinic, particularly through spring and among older adults. It is genuinely good for physical and mental health, and the injuries are largely preventable with changes most people have not considered.
Why it hurts backs
Gardening involves sustained flexion — bent forward, often for long stretches, frequently with a twist, and usually for far longer than intended because the job is nearly finished. Discs are least tolerant of exactly that combination, particularly first thing in the morning.
The morning problem
Discs are more hydrated and less tolerant of flexion in the first hour or two after waking. Heavy bent-over gardening before breakfast is a genuinely higher-risk activity than the same work in the afternoon. See low back pain.
Time, not technique
Most gardening back injuries are duration problems. Forty minutes of weeding is usually fine; three hours is where trouble starts. Setting a timer and changing task or position every 20 to 30 minutes prevents more injuries than any lifting cue.
Knees and hips
Kneeling for long periods loads the knees, and squatting repeatedly loads the hips. A kneeler pad and raised beds are not concessions — they are the single most effective interventions available. Our knee and ankle pain page covers knee presentations.
Shoulders and elbows
Pruning above shoulder height and repeated secateur use load the shoulder and forearm tendons. Long-handled tools and powered pruners are worth the money if you have a large garden.
If you have already done it
Gentle movement rather than bed rest, and get it assessed if it has not started improving within a week.
How we approach it
The first appointment covers a full history and a movement and orthopaedic assessment, not just the sore area. With occupational and lifestyle-driven pain in particular, the useful part is usually working out which daily loads are maintaining the problem — because treating the tissue weekly while the cause continues unchanged rarely holds. You leave knowing what we found, what is driving it, and roughly how long it should take.
Booking in
RISE Sports & Spinal is at 5/6-8 Langmore Lane, Berwick, serving Berwick, Narre Warren, Cranbourne, Clyde, Pakenham, Officer, Beaconsfield and the wider Casey area. Same-week appointments most weeks, initial consult 60 minutes at $149, HICAPS on site. No referral needed.
Book an initial consultation at RISE Sports & Spinal in Berwick. Clear diagnosis, hands-on treatment, and a plan that actually gets you better.
