"Lift with your legs!" Your legs, not your back!" "Stop!!" "There you go again, lifting with your back!" my father yelled at me almost daily when I worked alongside him on our farm. I was young and only half-listened, even though he'd had more than one hernia and I'd attended him after a painful surgery to repair one. I was a snotty teen who thought she knew more than the next person and my body could take relentless pounding in my youth and always seemed to recover.
Not so as I've aged, things are different. When I garden, and exert myself, I feel it. When I do something wrong, I know it -- sometimes for a month or more! Injuries can happen quickly in the garden, especially when you're tired.
Just three weeks ago I became unsteady and stepped backwards onto rusty shears and spent my Sunday afternoon getting a tetanus shot rather than completing a bed. And a few months ago, Chris injured his foot while digging holes to plant fruit trees, and gave himself a plantar fasciitis injury, (from stepping on the wrong part of his foot when he pushed the shovel into hard ground), that has yet to fully heal. And sometimes I spend so much time bent over weeding or planting that I feel like the "crooked little man who walked a crooked mile" that straightening out takes a while and I wonder if I'll ever be fully upright again!
Enter Ann of Love House Dahlias who recently sent me an email about a class she's having on her farm. I had the pleasure to write about Ann's magical dahlia farm for Ventana Monthly about a year ago. With thousands and thousands of holes that must be dug yearly for dahlias and plants that are weeded and tended, as well as her own tentative back she must watch out for, she knows a thing about the importance of body mechanics. She told me Michael Curran who works with her has trained other workers on the farm how to properly use their bodies and they've seen far less injuries. Just what I need to learn!
Gardening is becoming very popular and even necessary to some as a way to supplement their diets. Just as we need to use the proper tools to break the ground, so do we need to know how to use our bodies so we don't break them! Below is the information, join me!
Proper use of your best gardening tool - Your Body!
June 19, 2010 We all know that gardening is a great way to get some exercise, but sometimes it can be a pain - literally! - in the back, the hands, the shoulders, hips, knees, or even the feet. All of your tools are designed to be used in a certain way, and your body is no different! Do you still have your user's manual? Did you even get one?! This fun and entertaining class IS your user's manual for mechanically-correct gardening. Learn what "using your legs instead of your back" actually means. Learn to listen to what you body is telling you - which pains are GOOD and which ones are BAD. Michael Curran is a certified Restorative Exercise Specialist and Ayurvedic Medicine Practitioner. He developed this class after two years on the farm, where he has trained dozens of farm workers how to work all day and stay healthy and strong. 10 A.M. 1 hour. $20.00 per person. Reservations needed. Refreshments included. Call 805-648-6808
6.17.2010
blog comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
