[Garden] Gasp! The risks of gardening.

[J. Rochon]

Gardeners,
                 Be forewarned :) Behold the perils of the plot.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/5011927/Spring-gardening-is-a-dangerous-sport-claim-doctors.html


  Spring gardening is a dangerous sport, claim doctors


    Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the garden,
    doctors have warned that pruning, mowing and weeding can be as
    dangerous as competitive sports.

 

By Richard Alleyne
Last Updated: 10:13PM GMT 18 Mar 2009


Doctors say that throwing yourself into gardening ? without a warm up ? 
is as dangerous as a footballer returning to competition without 
training Photo: GETTY

Traditionally springtime has amateur horticulturists across the land 
itching to get back into their flower beds and rockeries after a long 
winter of inactivity.

However, doctors have warned that many gardeners overdo it and end up 
needing treatment for a host of injuries including gardeners' back, 
weeder's wrist and pruner's neck.

 


        Related Articles

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          How to avoid gardening injuries this spring
          <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/5011928/How-to-avoid-gardening-injuries-this-spring.html>


They say that throwing yourself into the hobby -- without a warm up -- 
is as dangerous as a footballer returning to competition without training.

And this time of year the number of people attending injury clinics with 
gardening related ailments is often higher than those for sports such as 
football or rugby.

The warning was issued by the British College of Osteopathic Medicine 
(BCOM) which said the garden may not always be the friendliest, or the 
healthiest place,

They said their clinics experience a surge in gardening-related 
injuries, strains and sprains at the onset and throughout the spring 
months, the most common types of which are lower back pain and strains 
to ligaments and joints.

Dr Ian Drysdale, College Principal, said, "Every year the BCOM clinics 
prepare themselves for these gardening related injuries, but the 
majority of them are totally preventable.

"What happens is that people forget themselves and go in all gung-ho 
after the relative hibernation of the winter months, forgetting that 
their bodies need, like the gardens, to be coaxed in gently and limbered 
up over a period of time.

"People don't associate gardening with danger which is the most 
dangerous thing of all."

He said that clinics saw incidents surge by a quarter in the spring 
months as well as at the end of the growing season in October.

"A Premiership footballer doesn't come off their summer holiday and go 
straight into a competitive match," he said.

"They train, they practise, they have training matches before they play 
properly. Gardeners should also ease into it so that they give 
themselves less trauma.

"Going straight into vigorous gardening is the same as an elite athlete 
going straight into competition from a break."

He said injuries ranged from blisters to slipped discs and affected 
every one from 30 to 60, although the elderly were particularly 
susceptible.

"At this time of year people have not done a lot of gardening or 
activity for a long time," he said. There is a sunny day and they throw 
themselves into it. They don't do it for 20 minutes, they dig the whole 
allotment in three hours or they mow the whole lawn.

"There is no warm up and they come down with an injury. They strain 
their back or in extreme cases a slip a disc."

----
I wonder if there's a treatment for my Warcraft Hibernation.


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