Pilates - excellent for all sorts of things including managing back pain. Try to do a couple of minutes gentle stretching exercises both before and after gardening.
In colder weather I tuck my vest / T-shirt into my pants so there's no draught in the lower back area.
Try not to do the same task for more than 20 minutes at a time.
Try not to overstretch or carry / push too heavy or unbalanced loads.
My favourite back-saver pieces of kit are: a decent, well balanced wheelbarrow with pneumatic tyre, a sack trolley, a Wolfgarten long handle to which I can attach a small cultivator head for 'tickling the soil' between plants or a hoe for chopping off weeds in the drive and veggie beds - no need to bend or stoop.
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
Another recommendation for pilates here! I've had 2 really bad episodes with my back where I could hardly move. Physio and massage helped but I get trouble with my sacro-iliac joint and pilates helped me to strengthen everything up again.
Like everyone else, I try not to do the same thing for too long and try to be sensible but it doesn't always happened!
When I had back trouble it was sitting that hurt the most I used to stand on the bus on way to work got some funny looks on a half empty bus! Pilates helped me so much my posture is now better and my core muscles are stronger
Don't do any one thing for ages. So, instead of digging an entire area in one go, or weeding for hours, stop after a short while, do something else, and come back to it later. Stop as soon as your back feels at all tired. That's your fair warning that it's about to start hurting. Also, it's true that yoga helps enormously. It's made a huge difference to my back because it helps with flexibility and strength. Yoga with Adrien on YouTube is very good. If yoga isn't your thing, I find that a gentle stroll, or other light movement, helps to both stave-off and cure a bad back far more than lying down does.
Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.
Nothing to do with gardening, but I always use a small supermarket trolley. The big heavy ones are murder on your lower back. I also kneel down to do weeding. I just use a cheapo foam kneeler. The only thing I use standing up is a hoe or a border fork which I wiggle to loosen the soil and then get down on my knees to do the rest.
Crikey - I've spent the weekend using gardening to help my back / hip pain! I'm reckoning that any movement (as long as there's not too much of a load) is good for flexibility, which is where my issues come from I think. I'm only 46, but have had a bit of a wake-up call recently...
Agree with Yoga, Pilates, and what about doing as I've done a lot today - rather than bend to weed & pick stuff up, drop down to a crouch - don't think those tiny back muscles were supposed to take the full weight of the top half of your body. I watch that zoo programme, and am following the chimps and orang-utans who never seem to bend double at the waist!
I have very similar problems. After falling downstairs about 40 yrs ago carrying my son who was then just a year old I fell heavily on my left leg which a couple of years later seemed to set off a stress fracture and displaced the joint in my lower back causing a spondylolisthesis. (Well I at least did not drop him.)
I have great trouble finding any comfortable seats, soft seats with the back at at the wrong angle is really uncomfortable. Hotel and restaurant seating is generally dreadful as they rarely have back support. I use a "Backfriend" fibreglass back support all the time "The Original Backfriend : | Portable Back Support | backinaction.co.uk" (This is not me advertising it realy does make life a lot more comfortable.)
They are very good and I could not be without mine, I think I am about to get my fourth. They last about 10 years each and mine is usually in the car with the sun shining on the fabric which takes its toll. Over the years the damaged lumbar facet joint has worn out a lot. I just about manage but at tlmes the pain is particularly bad. I have had denervation to reduce the pain but it does not work as well as it did. I have a sack trolly which if the weighty object is in a good position I can use to move pots about by sliding things and I have learnt to be very careful.
I often use my hands and knees and crawl in the mud. But the pain is generally getting worse. I am trying to manage as best I can. What we are all doing for our beloved gardens.
Posts
In colder weather I tuck my vest / T-shirt into my pants so there's no draught in the lower back area.
Try not to do the same task for more than 20 minutes at a time.
Try not to overstretch or carry / push too heavy or unbalanced loads.
My favourite back-saver pieces of kit are: a decent, well balanced wheelbarrow with pneumatic tyre, a sack trolley, a Wolfgarten long handle to which I can attach a small cultivator head for 'tickling the soil' between plants or a hoe for chopping off weeds in the drive and veggie beds - no need to bend or stoop.
Like everyone else, I try not to do the same thing for too long and try to be sensible but it doesn't always happened!
Funnily enough I discovered today that sitting down is what’s causing the pain. Pottering about watering, seeding and planting felt really good.
I also kneel down to do weeding. I just use a cheapo foam kneeler. The only thing I use standing up is a hoe or a border fork which I wiggle to loosen the soil and then get down on my knees to do the rest.
Agree with Yoga, Pilates, and what about doing as I've done a lot today - rather than bend to weed & pick stuff up, drop down to a crouch - don't think those tiny back muscles were supposed to take the full weight of the top half of your body. I watch that zoo programme, and am following the chimps and orang-utans who never seem to bend double at the waist!
Hope you find a good solution.
I have great trouble finding any comfortable seats, soft seats with the back at at the wrong angle is really uncomfortable. Hotel and restaurant seating is generally dreadful as they rarely have back support.
I use a "Backfriend" fibreglass back support all the time "The Original Backfriend : | Portable Back Support | backinaction.co.uk"
(This is not me advertising it realy does make life a lot more comfortable.)
They are very good and I could not be without mine, I think I am about to get my fourth. They last about 10 years each and mine is usually in the car with the sun shining on the fabric which takes its toll.
Over the years the damaged lumbar facet joint has worn out a lot. I just about manage but at tlmes the pain is particularly bad. I have had denervation to reduce the pain but it does not work as well as it did.
I have a sack trolly which if the weighty object is in a good position I can use to move pots about by sliding things and I have learnt to be very careful.
I often use my hands and knees and crawl in the mud. But the pain is generally getting worse. I am trying to manage as best I can.
What we are all doing for our beloved gardens.
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'