Growing without groaning: a brief guide to gardening when you have chronic pain
Digging with her right arm close to her torso, Rebecca Stephenson supports her weight with her knees and right arm. Andrea Muraskin for NPR
When I look at the economic news: the housing crunch, the rising cost of everyday items, the possibility that AI will render my professional skills obsolete – I often come back to the same thought: I should start growing my own vegetables.
But there’s a problem. Like about 20% of adults in the U.S., I live with chronic pain. Mine is in my pelvis and legs, and it can make repetitive bending or crouching very uncomfortable. Fortunately for me, this spring I’ve been seeing Rebecca Stephenson, a clinical specialist in physical therapy at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts. She has a passion for planting, and a lot of ideas about how to modify gardening activities to prevent pain.
In her own garden she grows sedum, coleus, peonies, herbs and shade plants.
Stephenson says the activity of gardening can benefit people with chronic pain. “You're exercising, besides breathing outside in nature and getting good lung expansion. You're also using your arms and legs in a coordinated way, and there is a way to garden so that you don't hurt yourself and end up in pain afterwards.” Here are some of her tips for getting your hands in the dirt, without the hurt.
Pace yourself Like any physical activity, Stephenson says, gardening is something you build endurance for, step by step. “It’s happened to me where I've, in my enthusiasm, gone out for four or five hours, and it's gonna cost me for two weeks”, Stephenson says. But her professional training helps her stay grounded. “I think from my physical therapy, I come at it from underneath. Instead of going over your limit, I try to come under,” she says.
“What I really recommend is to take your garden project and see how you could split it up into smaller pieces and be very reasonable about the amount of time that you're physically able to do it. So it might be a half an hour, it might be 15 minutes, it might be an hour, and then take a break, change your body position, do some stretches,” she says.
Take a seat, and get up gracefully Stephenson suggests using a stadium chair, the kind that rests on the ground and provides back support, to work in a seated position. Position your legs in a V shape, with knees straight or slightly bent, and work on the patch directly in front of you. You can also tuck one leg in with your foot resting against the inside of the opposite thigh.
When it’s time to get up, roll to one side and get on all fours, and stand up from there.
Kneeling on a pad, Stephenson supports herself with her left hand while she uses her right hand to clear debris. Andrea Muraskin for NPR
Try ‘the quadruped’ For a bit more range of movement, kneel with both knees on a foam pad. Then, placing both hands on the ground, come forward into a table top position, with your back straight and your arms and legs perpendicular to the ground. You can then work with your dominant hand while supporting your weight with your non-dominant hand on the ground.
Take a knee Kneel with one knee on a pad and the foot of the opposite leg on the ground, (as if you’re proposing marriage or protesting the National Anthem at a football game). Use your extended leg to brace your elbow as your work. This is a good position for using a small shovel or trowel, and you can work with both hands on the tool.
Embrace ‘functional bracing’ “Sometimes people wear a back brace just for gardening, and that gives them a little bit more of a reminder to be using their abdominal muscles and less strained,” Stephenson says. It's not like your grandmother where you're wearing a girdle all day. You're just wearing it for an hour.”
Consider raised beds Instead of getting down on the ground, you can bring the earth up to you with a raised bed that reaches hip level. The bed should be about twice as wide as your arm length, Stephenson says. You engage your abdominal muscles while leaning forward against the bed wall, which provides support for your pelvis while your upper body does the gardening. You can even prop one foot up on a stool for more support.
Stephenson particularly recommends these raised beds for senior citizens. ”A senior could have one in their backyard, in their condo, on the back porch. That could have their lettuce, could have spinach, a lot of herbs that could change how they're cooking to make it a little bit more exciting,” she says. Short of building a raised bed, veggies can also be grown in planters that hook over a railing.
Have you got tips for gardening with chronic pain? Send them to us at shots@npr.org, and you could be featured in a future edition of the newsletter. (For now, I’ve got a few herbs on pots on the back porch – it’s a start). Happy growing season!
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