How Elevated Gardens Beds are Better for Your Back

Enjoy gardening and love being outdoors with your plants? As we get older – and for some of us, if we’re just plain unlucky – back problems can become a serious issue in our lives that prevent us from enjoying the things we love doing most like gardening. Back pain can be debilitating. In fact, lower back pain is the single leading cause of disability worldwide.

Bending over a garden bed, kneeling down, and twisting to get right to the back of the bed are not pleasant movements for those of us with a bad back and can cause pain to worsen. So, what can you do about it? Well, for starters, why not try an elevated garden bed to help reduce added back pain and strain?

Stand While You Garden

Hunching over the flower or vegetable beds causes your spine to move into an unusual position. This can cause stiffness, pain and even numbness in the arms or legs if you hold the posture for a long time. Elevated garden beds bring the plants up to your level.

If you suffer from lower back pain, being able to stand while you work is a real life-saver. This means no more squatting and fidgeting as you become uncomfortable. It’s a real pain to have to give up halfway through a job because of your back pain and these beds will solve the issue for you.

Raising Up Potted Plants

There may be some plants in your garden which are potted rather than sitting in beds. Not a problem. Put them on raised surfaces you might already have such as tables or deck rails. For very large or heavy planters, there are lots of different plant stands you can buy either online or from garden centers. These can raise the plants up to your level.

Things to Watch Out For

Standing up for too long can still exacerbate existing back pain. So make sure you get plenty of rest in between gardening sessions to allow yourself time to recover.

For the raised beds themselves – try to get someone else to do the heavy lifting of putting them together. Don’t injure your back lifting the weighty pieces of your elevated garden beds.

Make sure that when your raised beds are all put together, there’s good drainage. Also, check that the elevation is level. You don’t want the water to all seep towards one corner. If this happens, some plants will get overwatered while their bed partners don’t get enough.

Take a Stand against Back Pain

Don’t let back pain keep you from doing the things that you love. If you’re like the millions of others suffering from chronic pain, contact Busch Chiropractic today to learn more about our nonsurgical, drug-free treatments and start enjoying your life again.