It will soon be the start of the gardening season and hand in hand with this is the yearly epidemic of low back pain. Gardening is no longer the province of the over fifties, it is increasingly seen as a 'trendy' pastime with local garden centres reporting unprecedented activity as customers realise the benefits and advantages of a well tended garden.
At this time of year 1000's of people will already be feeling the ill effects of over enthusiastic gardening.
The osteopathy team at Oxford Brookes University has some handy hints for avoiding the pain and discomfort associated with overenthusiastic gardening.
In many ways gardening can be viewed as a sporting activity, as such it should be approached in the same way.

1. Warm up before you start strenuous gardening such as digging or lopping.
a preliminary walk around the garden with a few minutes spent stretching helps prepare you for the activity

2. Pace yourself, don't try to be overambitious, and take regular breaks, resist the temptation to do too much at once.Those tea breaks are vital!

3. Avoid excessive bending forward from the waist, particularly whilst simultaneously twisting and/or lifting, remembering to bend your knees and use your thighs to assist any lift.

4. Don't overstretch, use stepladders or extended shears when pruning especially if using electrical shears

5. If removing small trees or saplings leave enough trunk to act as a long lever to remove roots.

6. Stretch off after you finish in the garden and enjoy a liquid muscle relaxant of your choice(red wine etc!)