Gardening QUICKGuide

Protect your green thumbs and hands by wearing gloves

This protects hands from small cuts or scrapes, and creates a barrier from infection-causing bacteria in the soil.

Repetition is not your friend

Even though there may be 1,000 weeds to pull, staying in the same position to pull all of them is not a good idea. Shift positions: sitting or kneeling on a pad about every 5 minutes. You might even want to rest and stretch between sessions.

Tools matter

Look for wide handles, padding and the correct height so you can maintain an upright position. When gardening, if there is a tool that will do the job, use the tool rather than your hands.

Lift with your legs

Often the last thing you want to do after lifting that 15th bag of mulch is to use proper form, but squatting, keeping the back straight and lifting with your legs can minimize back pain later on.

Easy on those knees

If you are known to sit all the way back on your knees with your hind end resting on your feet, you may want to reconsider it. This position places a tremendous amount of strain on the knees. Consider using knee pads (fashionable, we know) or a kneeling pad or bench for extra cushion for the knees.

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  • Ray Coyle, OTR/L

    Assisting patients in returning to a high level of function quickly and safely is very rewarding. I want patients to feel informed, cared for, and that their expectations were exceeded.

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