Switching Up Positions and Activities for Better Ergonomics While Gardening

Gardening is a wonderful way to connect with nature and enjoy the beauty of your outdoor space. However, it's important to prioritize your physical well-being while tending to your plants. By incorporating better ergonomics into your gardening routine, you can prevent discomfort and reduce the risk of injuries.

Here's a one minute video about switching your positions while gardening: https://youtube.com/shorts/sOCtlDQmYVU

There are usually multiple things that need to be attended to in a garden, with at least one or two activities that you're trying to complete in a single day. Plan to switch between these activities based on your body position, when possible.

What do I mean by body positions? Standing, walking, sitting, squatting, and kneeling. Also, where are you reaching? Close to your body, overhead, straight out, down to the floor?

When I've done indoor sowing into cells with similar germination rates, all of a sudden I have ~72 plants to pot up or transplant at one time. Rather than push through the discomfort and complete a task at the same time, just because I'm already in the garden or already at my potting station, I purposely want to make sure I'm changing between those activities, because they use different body positions.

Take breaks as needed but even without taking a break from gardening you can still take a break from kneeling or squatting while planting in the ground by working on potting up or watering or another standing / walking activity. Sitting can be done for in ground activities (either on the ground or on a garden kneeling tool or chair) and table top activities, with care that you're keeping your back relatively straight and not having to reach too far at your shoulders.

Going back to my example of having 72 starts needing attention, I worked with six cells at a time to pot up at a table (so I could stand or sit at the table, as I use a normal height plastic table for my potting station), then worked with another six cells that needed to be transplanted into the ground (where I would squat or kneel). Walk or stretch as needed between activities. If you need more time away from a certain position, see if you can add other activities that need to be done in your preferred position. For instance, if you need more time out of the squatting position then water your plants or collect chicken eggs or walk around your garden and note areas that need attention before heading back to transplanting.

Also, long-handled tools can help reduce the need for excessive bending or reaching, and lightweight options can minimize strain on your muscles.

Instead of working with a unit of six seedlings at a time you could set a timer before rotating, or decide to do one row of plants, or go based off of a flare up of pain or fatigue (ensuring you change your activity before the pain or fatigue forces you to end, to increase your chances of being able to go back to an activity).

Another way to think of changing positions and activities is with your shoulders. If you are having to reach out for prolonged periods of time (such as weeding the center of a bed or watering seedlings in the center or back of your trays) try to switch to having breaks where you can work closer to your body. Any time you can change your environment or where you are positioned to keep your arms closer to your body, the easier that will be on your joints and muscles.