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Gardeners,<br>
Be forewarned :) Behold the perils of the plot.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/5011927/Spring-gardening-is-a-dangerous-sport-claim-doctors.html">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/5011927/Spring-gardening-is-a-dangerous-sport-claim-doctors.html</a><br>
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<h1>Spring gardening is a dangerous sport, claim doctors </h1>
<h2>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. </h2>
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<p> By Richard Alleyne <br>
Last Updated: 10:13PM GMT 18 Mar 2009</p>
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<div class="imageExtras" style="width: 460px;"> <span class="caption">Doctors
say that throwing yourself into gardening ? without a warm up ? is as
dangerous as a footballer returning to competition without training</span>
<span class="credit">Photo: GETTY</span> </div>
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<p>
Traditionally springtime has amateur horticulturists across the land
itching to get back into their flower beds and rockeries after a long
winter of inactivity.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
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<h4 class="header">Related Articles</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<h2> <a
href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/5011928/How-to-avoid-gardening-injuries-this-spring.html">How
to avoid gardening injuries this spring</a> </h2>
</li>
</ul>
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<p>
They say that throwing yourself into the hobby – without a warm up – is
as dangerous as a footballer returning to competition without training.
</p>
<p>
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. </p>
<p>
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,
</p>
<p>
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. </p>
<p>
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. </p>
<p>
"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.
</p>
<p>
"People don't associate gardening with danger which is the most
dangerous thing of all."
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
"A Premiership footballer doesn't come off their summer holiday and go
straight into a competitive match," he said.
</p>
<p>
"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. </p>
<p>
"Going straight into vigorous gardening is the same as an elite athlete
going straight into competition from a break."
</p>
<p>
He said injuries ranged from blisters to slipped discs and affected
every one from 30 to 60, although the elderly were particularly
susceptible.
</p>
<p> "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. </p>
<p>
"There is no warm up and they come down with an injury. They strain
their back or in extreme cases a slip a disc."<br>
</p>
<p>----<br>
I wonder if there's a treatment for my Warcraft Hibernation.<br>
</p>
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