************************************************************* WATCH YOUR BACK!!! BY THERAPIST AT For many
people, spring is a season of gardening, but before you begin tilling and
planting, take a few minutes to consider your back. Pulling weeds, raking
a lawn, or just digging a hole can strain your back.
In fact, any movement that requires lifting, twisting or turning
can injure you back. To make sure your flower bed doesn’t land you in
bed, here is what ·
Avoid squatting and bending
as much as possible. ·
Instead of bending over to
work on your garden, kneel on a soft cushion ·
Take a break to stretch your
back every 15 to 30 minutes. Stand
up slowly, take several deep breaths and place your hands on your low back
while slowly arching backward. ·
Use a wheelbarrow for hauling
heavy objects. Always load materials toward the front of the wheelbarrow
using your legs to lift. ·
When lifting, position
yourself close to the object. Separate
y our feet shoulder width apart. Make
sure that you bend at the knees and tighten your stomach muscles.
Lift with your legs as you stand up. ·
Avoid raking, lifting or
digging for long, uninterrupted periods. It is important to take frequent
rest and alternate between using your right and left side. ·
When mowing, always push with
your legs and maintain a good, upright posture. ·
Choose gardening tools with
padded handles to protect joints in your hands and finger from excess
pressure. ·
Remember to drink plenty of
water to prevent dehydration and wear sunscreen. ·
If you experience pain of any
kind, stop immediately, seek assistance. ·
If
you suffer from persistent pain, speak with your doctor, and ask if
physical therapy would be appropriate for you. (The above article was
reprinted by permission from ************************************************************* BE SURE BY I started
cardiac rehab on Most athletes
have grown up doing stretching exercises to warm up. However, an article
in the paper recently indicated that the best warm up exercise is to do
what you are going to do, only do it slowly, or walk at a normal pace for
2-5 minutes. Literature from rehab encourages members to either do like I
do or walk around the basketball court two times as a warm up. The gardener
can walk around the garden and enjoy the color and texture of the plants
and smell the Roses as an enjoyable way to warm-up before any vigorous
activity. Along the way, stop and stretch a couple times and then you will
be ready to go. Don’t forget
to cool down before you go inside or sit for any length of time. The
therapist checks my pulse rate to make sure it is down to what it was when
I started before he will let me go home. After strenuous gardening, walk
around your garden again to cool down. Warming up before exercise and cooling down after means fewer sore muscles. ************************************************************************ DID YOU PRUNE YOUR CHRISTMAS CACTUS? BY
Did you prune your Christmas Cactus
on April 1st? I forgot to do mine but did get it
done about 10 days late. Before the first of May is not too late. Yes it is time
to prune your ornamental cactus whether it is a Christmas Cactus (Zygocactus)
or a Thanksgiving Cactus or an Easter Cactus (Schlumbergera).
Whichever one you have, to prune just pinch off the flattened stem
segments with indented notches at the margins. Some call these stem
segments leaves but technically they are not.
These Holiday Cactus need to be pruned whenever they get too big.
Flowers are produced on the new growth at the ends of these stem segments.
So if you want to reduce the size of your plant, make it fuller, and/or
stimulate new growth so you have more flowers all over the plant, prune
the tips sometime during April. By
pruning you will you have new growth this summer that will produce flowers
for you next winter. I
just break off as many of the stem segments as I need to, but at least one
from each tip. The stem segments you remove can be put in a good container
mix and rooted so you can have a plant to give to a friend next
Christmas. Use a good container mix rather than a cactus mix as
Christmas Cactus are not a true cactus. One
last tip: Christmas Cactus like to be pot bound so Copyright 2010 |