Editor – Sir Richard Thompson's excellent article Gardening for health: a regular dose of gardening in the June issue did not mention gardening injuries.
In 2007, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) reported that, in 2006, 87,000 gardeners required treatment in hospital for injuries caused by:
lawn mowers (6,500)
flower pots (5,300)
secateurs and pruners (4,400)
spades (3,600)
electric hedge trimmers (3,100)
plant tubs and troughs (2,800)
shears (2,100)
garden forks (2,000)
hoses and sprinklers (1,900)
garden canes and sticks (1,800).1
In 2009, an article was published entitled Gardening? It's just as risky as rugby says doctors. Gardeners attend clinics with ailments such as ‘gardener's back’, ‘weeder's wrist’ and ‘pruner's neck’.2 Dr Ian Drysdale, the principal of the British College of Osteopathic Medicine advised gardeners to:
Start with some gentle stretching to warm up muscles and joints.
Do no more than 1.5 hours per day initially.
Kneel down when planting with both knees on a pad.
Use a small spade when digging.
Switch tasks regularly.
When lifting, bend the knees and keep the back straight.
In 2010, an article was published entitled Gardening riskier than skiing and stated, ‘One in ten Britons has been injured when gardening, four times as many as those hurt on the ski slopes’.3 In the article, Dr Peter Mace, the assistant medical director of BUPA, was quoted as saying ‘Anyone planning to spend time gardening or decorating should remember they may be using muscle groups and joints they haven't exercised in a long while’.
References
- 1.Gardening injuries land 87,000 a year in hospital. Daily Telegraph. 2007 24 September. [Google Scholar]
- 2.Gardening? It's just as risky as rugby says doctors. Daily Telegraph. 2009 19 March. [Google Scholar]
- 3.Gardening riskier than skiing. Daily Telegraph. 2010 30 April. [Google Scholar]