How to Eliminate Back Pain and Enjoy Yard Work This Spring
Have you been dealing with back pain and wondering what you can do to resolve it once and for all? Do you worry your back will get in your enjoyment of taking care of your yard? At South Sherbrook Therapy, our physiotherapists will identify the root cause of your pain and give you the tools to resolve it and prevent it from returning!
Too often, people with back pain misinterpret the signals their body is sending and try to do too much or avoid all activity and do too little. Whether the condition is acute or chronic, the key is restoring mobility and function. Until you restore normal function, tissue healing will not occur, and the problem will persist.
Fortunately, at South Sherbrook Therapy, we know how to strike the right balance and can help you resolve your pain and restore your function so you can get back to doing what you love!
Request an appointment with one of our specialists today, and let us help you get back to taking care of the yard the way you want to!
Common Reasons For Gardeners To Suffer From Back Pain
After being cooped up indoors through the long winter months, most homeowners can’t help but start planning and preparing for a thriving, clean-cut yard this spring. Unfortunately, a sedentary lifestyle through the fall and winter months leads to a higher risk of pain and/or injury when the gardening season starts.
Too often, the prevailing advice gardeners hear is how important it is to avoid specific tasks due to risks for lower back pain. Although this advice may seem to make sense and appropriate in certain circumstances, the research is clear, avoiding movements is not as effective as being prepared by staying active and maintaining or improving strength.
Proper care of your yard requires repetitive movements, prolonged positions and may include heavy lifting. These activities have been associated with back pain, but avoiding them is not as effective as addressing them directly.
When working on your lawn, there are few injuries as common as strained or pulled muscles. Strained muscles affect people of all ages, fitness levels, and physical abilities. The repetitive nature of the tasks needed in yard work sets you up for strains. In addition, bending and twisting movements are dangerous and can cause muscle strains and may even injure the discs in the spine.
The source of back pain typically comes from injury or irritation of the muscles, joints (including the intervertebral discs and facet joints), nerves, or surrounding ligaments and other soft tissue.
The contributing factors that are most often associated with back pain include:
- Improper posture or prolonged positions (i.e., prolonged sitting or bending)
- Spinal muscle and tissue damage (i.e., lifting strains or repetitive bending and twisting)
- Limited hip, spine, and pelvis mobility
- Spinal/pelvic muscle weaknesses (aka “core” weakness)
- Poor abdominal, pelvic and back muscle coordination (i.e., compensations due to injury)
Ignoring the pain and/or pushing through pain can leave you susceptible to pain and injury. A proactive approach can reduce the risks and improve your overall health so your body can handle the stressors that can negatively impact your spine.
At South Sherbrook Therapy, our physiotherapists can help provide you with exercise programs and routines to make sure your body is adequately prepared and can handle gardening demands.
How Physiotherapy Can Help Your Back Pain
Too often, people wait until their pain is severe or don’t exercise regularly throughout the year, which leads to more complications and possible injuries. Our team will conduct a thorough evaluation to determine the injury’s severity and identify any other weaknesses or limitations that may affect your function and recovery ability.
We will use this information to develop a comprehensive program that includes targeted manual techniques, mobility work, strengthening, and appropriate pain relief techniques for the individual athlete.
Our therapeutic interventions will start with pain management and restoring mobility to the injured area. Next, we will focus on progressing your strength and dynamic stability exercises designed to restore function and prevent injuries. We will also incorporate body mechanics and proper lifting exercises to stimulate your nervous system and help ensure you can adequately perform the tasks you need to avoid an injury.
Just like you need to warm up at the gym, you should warm up in the garden. Taking care of your yard requires large ranges of motion and strength so you can bend, lift, kneel, and squat properly. At South Sherbrook Therapy, our team recommends addressing your limitations head-on.
Avoiding movements will not prepare your body to perform them when the time comes. Instead, take a proactive approach, plan frequent breaks, perform simple backbends to counteract the forward begins, and avoid ignoring or pushing through pain.
Request An Appointment At South Sherbrook Therapy Today!
Although it can be crucial to modify how you lift, limit activity, and perform a proper warm-up before working in the yard, it is essential to know that getting help with mild pain is also important.
Request an appointment with one of our specialists, and let us help you get your body ready for a pain-free gardening season!
3 Natural Ways to Beat Spring Allergies
It’s finally spring! For most people, this means warm weather, getting outside, and appreciating the blooming flowers and beauty of nature. However, if you have allergies, you might be dreading all of the above.
Don’t give up on the idea of enjoying the season just yet. Did you know there are several natural ways you can help lessen the severity of your allergies? Here are three ways you can start fighting off your allergies, beginning today!
1. Manage stress
Were you aware that stress hormones can wreak havoc on your body, even weakening the immune system? This in turn can worsen seasonal allergies.
A physiotherapist can help you to manage your stress by prescribing you with an individualized exercise routine that fits with your lifestyle and personal fitness goals. Other therapeutic methods, such as massage therapy, acupuncture, and aquatic therapy, also have stress relieving properties.
2. Avoid unhealthy foods and drinks
Toxins in the body frequently aggravate allergies. Allergies can flare up when the liver is working overtime metabolizing our stress, medications, alcohol, and processed foods. Therefore, avoiding fatty foods and alcohol can help lessen your allergy symptoms.
3. Clean the house
This one sounds obvious, but it can do wonders to help mitigate allergies! Many allergy triggers can be removed from your home with regular cleaning, which can help relieve your pesky symptoms.
For example, something as simple as changing your pillowcases on a regular basis can improve your symptoms since allergens can transfer from your hair to your pillow at night.
To discover more natural methods for allergy relief, contact South Sherbrook Therapy today!
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Spring Asparagus Risotto
Ingredients:
- 4 cups (1-inch) sliced asparagus (about 1 1/2 pounds), divided
- 3 cups fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 cups chopped onion (about 1 large)
- 2 cups uncooked Arborio or other medium-grain rice
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Place 1 cup asparagus and 1 cup broth in a blender; puree until smooth. Combine puree, remaining 2 cups broth, and 1 1/2 cups water in a medium saucepan; bring to a simmer (do not boil). Keep warm over low heat. Melt butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add onion to pan; cook 8 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in rice; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in wine; cook 2 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Add 1/2 cup broth mixture; cook 2 minutes or until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Add remaining puree mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of broth is absorbed before adding the next (about 30 minutes total). Stir in remaining 3 cups asparagus; cook 2 minutes. Stir in 3/4 cup cheese, cream, salt, and pepper. Transfer risotto to a bowl. Serve with remaining 1/4 cup cheese.