How to prevent gardening injuries this spring

How winter inactivity affects your muscles

After months of comparatively limited movement, certain muscle groups are far more vulnerable to strains and pulls when they’re suddenly called upon for the demands of gardening.

Helen O'Leary, Physiotherapist and Clinical Pilates Expert at Complete Pilates, London, UK, explains that this seasonal inactivity often leads to a significant loss of both strength and mobility.

“Jumping straight into heavy lifting or digging can overload muscles that haven’t been used consistently, making them more prone to strains, pulls, or general soreness,” she says. “This vulnerability is highest in muscles responsible for stability, lifting, and repetitive movement."

These issues are most common in your:

• Lower back.

• Hamstrings (the back of the thighs).

• Shoulders and upper back.

To minimise physical strain when returning to the garden, performing a few key functional movements before each session can significantly reduce your chance of injury.

O’Leary recommends a brief warm-up movement, often referred to as the Cat-Cow stretch:

1. Position - start on all fours (hands and knees).

2. The arch - tuck your pelvis under, drawing your pubic bone towards your navel and letting the curve travel up your spine until your back arches and your gaze shifts downwards.

3. The release - reverse the motion by lifting your tailbone towards the ceiling and drawing your chest forward.

In addition to this movement, she suggests incorporating hip hinges, ‘thread the needle’ stretches, roll-downs, and squats as highly effective movements to prep your body for a day in the soil.

It’s completely natural for your muscles to ache when you start moving more. But not all soreness is the same - there’s an important distinction between the typical fatigue that comes with physical activity and the kind of pain that suggests a genuine injury.

“After a day in the garden, it is really normal to have some muscle soreness, particularly if you haven’t kept up your exercise over winter,” says O’Leary.

“In general, if you have an injury, you might feel a noticeable weakness or loss of control,” adds O’Leary. “You may also struggle to perfect a specific task or get shooting pain. If you have any of these symptoms, try to find a physiotherapist who can help you.”

If you’re planning a major landscaping project, treat it as a physically demanding activity - much like returning to the gym after a long period of inactivity, especially for those specific muscle groups.

O’Leary recommends giving yourself time to gradually build the strength needed to carry out this kind of work safely.

“You wouldn’t sit down for 6 months and then suddenly go to the gym and squat 100 kilograms,” she explains. “So why would you suddenly start by doing eight hours of gardening a day?”

O’Leary suggests allowing a 6-8 week build-up period before undertaking any big landscaping projects, gradually increasing your activity in stages.

Weeks 0-2:

• Increase your walking - gradually building speed, incline/decline, and duration.

• Introduce light, broken-up gardening tasks - such as preparation work or bringing small items into the garden area.

• Practise basic mobility movements - including squats, roll-downs, hip hinges, and kneeling reaches, to build tolerance in key positions.

Weeks 2-4:

• Add bodyweight strength exercises - such as squats, lunges, bridges, and single-leg hip hinges.

• Incorporate resistance band work or light weights.

• Begin short gardening sessions - gradually increasing to around 30 minutes at a time.

Weeks 4-8:

• Extend activity sessions to 1-2 hours.

• Combine movements - particularly those involving forwards bending and rotation.

• Practise taking regular breaks - sitting upright or resting as needed to build endurance rather than just strength.

“Slowly building up your workload will help you to prevent injuries and get your body used to the task at hand,” O’Leary explains.

When lifting heavy objects such as bags of soil, we’re often taught to lift with our legs - rather than our back - as the safest way to reduce our chance of injury. However, even when using the correct technique, lifting with your legs can still place strain on your body if you’re not accustomed to it and may be just as hazardous to your wellbeing.

O’Leary cautions that if you’ve never lifted anything weighing around 30 kilograms, you may struggle to do so safely and effectively, regardless of your technique.

“If you want to be able to do this, you need to get into the gym and start practising the movement,” she says. “That can involve picking up sandbags or performing deep squats. Either way, you should gradually add weight to have the basic strength to lift these.”

It may seem like a minor or easily overlooked detail, but when it comes to using gardening tools - such as shovels - choosing the right handle is just as important as any other aspect of the tool.

O’Leary explains that a handle that’s too short can force you into excessive bending and spinal flexion, increasing strain on your back. Conversely, a handle that’s too long can reduce control and place unnecessary stress on your shoulders.

“The goal is to keep your torso as upright as possible while you’re working,” she says. “As a general guide, a short tool such as a shovel should roughly reach your hip bone, while longer tools such as rakes should come up to around chest height.

“You can also buy tools with adjustable handles if you are particularly tall - over six feet - or shorter than around five-foot-five. If you find yourself bending forwards for long periods of time, your tool may be too short.”

O’Leary adds that a D-handle is typically the most comfortable for lifting soil and digging, and is especially helpful if you have wrist issues.

“Straight handles are better for raking, sweeping, or wide movements,” she says. “You can also choose ergonomic handles, which can be good if you have back issues or limited mobility.”

We’ve covered how to warm up, build strength, choose the right tools, and position yourself during more static tasks to protect your body while gardening. But there are also simple things you can do as you work to support your physical health.

O’Leary concludes by recommending a simple stretch you can perform every 20 minutes to help counteract the effects of leaning forwards and rounding your back while gardening.

1. Stand up tall and put your hands behind your back, interlacing your fingers. Gently and slowly lift your arms away from your body to open your shoulders and back.

2. A seated variation can also be done. Sit up tall and open your arms wide to the sides. Allow your back to extend and start to look towards the sky.

"For both, you should feel your chest open and your back slightly extended," she says. "Try to do this every 20 minutes or so and hold each for 10-15 seconds. Repeat them 3-4 times."