The gardener's most consistent complaint, whether spoken or not.
As we go on through our day in the garden, we put our bodies through continuous stresses due to the regular bending, stooping, pulling, lifting, and stressing. The continued stress on the body needs to be counteracted with many different methods to maintain a healthy life. One of the most important is care for the muscles.
Care for your muscles and skeletal structure is most easily facilitated by stretching. While it may feel like an impossiblility to dedicate the time to stretching*1 it is in the best interest of every human to institute and maintain a routine of stretching and foam rolling.
Foam rolling is one of the most beneficial and painful exercise a human can put themselves through with so little effort. A simple search proves the wealth of knowledge available to everyone on the process and modalities of foam rolling. The most important knowledge though is your own experience with your foam roller. Amazon has a wealth of various rollers for good prices, so if you don't have one, ORDER NOW!!! and get to rolling.
Stretching goes hand in hand with the foam roller. From the time we are in the womb to close to or after our death, we stretch our bodies. This is the passive stretching, the body weight stretching, that is an innate part of humans. The active stretching is the real bread winner for the body. Active stretching is the process of intentionally putting a strain upon a specific group of muscles. By this a person is focusing their attention on and trying to lengthen a specific group of muscles to alleviate the normal tightening process of cooling or inactive muscles.
Simply searching for stretching leads a person down a rabbit hole of various sites, perspectives, and modalities. The most important is to find an knowledgeable and experienced source for the information. If you are doing a search, you should be looking at the parent site for the link you are following.
I have come to realize that the best people to teach about stretching are the ones doing the activities you intend to do. If you are a runner, find runners teaching stretching. If you are into crossfit, find a crossfit instructor who teaches you stretching. If you are a sedentary individual then you will want an instructor, instructional video, or course that fit your level of fitness but progresses.
As a runner*2 I have found running centric sites like Runners World to be very useful for my lifestyle. This is completely subjective for each and every individual. Again, if you are into martial arts, you want martial arts stretching to maximize your stretching time. Focus on stretching for the activity you are engaging in and you can see a dramatic decrease in the back pain you experience.
The goal is to be a happy and productive gardener.
Via clipartpanda.com
Footnotes
1: Full disclosure - I am unable to maintain a regular schedule of stretching. My excuse is I have 2 young boys and primarily am highly distractable. This is one of my main goals, to institute my routines again.
2: As inconsistent as my stretching unfortunately. My dedication to my physical well being has slipped and needs a regrouping, ASAP!
3: Please remember I am not a medical professional and anything in this post is my opinion only!
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Fleming Family Farm
FLEMING FAMILY FARM, LLC
Sustainable & Organic Methods | Heirloom Produce
All images are original works of Fleming Family Farm unless otherwise notated and credited.
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