Happy Spring from Balanced Health!
We hope this letter finds you and your family healthy and doing well during this uncertain time our communities are going through.
Spring time brings new outdoor activities, golfing, biking, hiking, rollerblading, walking, running and so much more. Balanced Health would like to remind you that keeping your body in alignment is important for proper form and to help keep injuries away. I’m not exaggerating. Repetitive motions like pruning and weeding can injure muscles, tendons and nerves, turning what is supposed to be an enjoyable hobby into a pain-filled nightmare. Even if you have never held a racket, you can end up with tennis elbow from carrying heavy buckets or pruning shrubs.
Gardening, although it is a great activity sometimes it can cause unwanted aches and pains. Here are a few tips to keep your body healthy during gardening and landscaping:
- Warm Up – walking and dynamic stretches/exercises
- Wear Gloves
- Stay Hydrated
- Take Breaks Often
- Don’t Overdo it. Spread out your tasks and do a little bit each day. AKA do not wait to do all of the work in one day!
- Good Posture while gardening and doing outside work.
- Change your position often and vary your tasks to avoid straining the same muscle groups over and over.
- Try not to overreach for things that are just out of range to lessen the chance of back strain.
- Don’t twist especially when carrying something heavy.
- Lift correctly, using your legs and not your back. Once you have picked them up keep heavy loads close to your body.
- Padded kneelers can help lessen the pressure on your knees.
If it has been awhile since you have been to the Chiropractor or have never been to one before, please feel free to contact Balanced Health for a free consultation. We have a passion for helping others and want you to be in the best functioning body possible.
Working at Home With Good Posture
And most of you are currently working from home. We wanted to add a little work station check to help you stay feeling great throughout your day.
Main Points:
- Eyes level with screen
- Elbows at 90 degrees
- Seat height so your feet can be flat on the floor
- Set an alarm to check your posture throughout the day or a reminder to get up and take a walking break and to drink more water.
Office Chairs are not always the best for your spine so I suggest using a wobble chair or an exercise ball to help decrease the stress to your lower back and mid back between the shoulders while working from home.
Homemade weed killer:
Ingredients
- 1 quart of vinegar
- 2 cups of Epsom salt
- 1/4 cup dish detergent
- Spray bottle
Directions for 3 Ingredient Natural Weed Killer
- Heat vinegar in a pan on the stove until it is hot, but not boiling.
- Add Epsom Salt and stir in with a wisk until it is dissolved. Let mixture cool slightly so that it is still warm but cool enough to handle.
- Add Dawn Dish Soap to your sprayer and slowly pour in the vinegar mixture.
How to use homemade Round Up
Pick a hot, dry day and spray weeds until saturated, they will wilt and shrivel up within hours. Use caution not to spray any plants or flowers you want to live.
The vinegar will not harm the soil and you can safely replant the area once the weeds have died.
How homemade weed killer works:
The vinegar draws moisture out of the plant, killing it in the process. Spray during the hottest part of the day and make sure there isn’t rain in the forecast for at least 24-48 hrs.
We got our Organic Gardening Seeds Here:
https://www.burpee.com/organics/all-organics/
Exercises to Avoid/Positions that The Spine is Weak:
What NOT to do:
- Rounding of the Back
- Not using legs to squat down to pick up something heavy
- Twisting while lifting heavy – shoveling, putting in bags of mulch, digging actions etc.
What to do:
- Keep spine strong/straight as possible
- Use your legs and strong core to bend over to pick something up or while weeding
- Picking weeds with one knee on the ground and one leg at 90 degrees is a great position and keep your spine straight as you reach forward to pick weeds to keep your knees and spine happy.
