Blog

Spring Forward Without Setbacks

Get outside and get active without injuries

Author: Dr. Britt Dalton, PT, DPT, OCS, COMT, FAAOMPT

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Springtime is finally here. It’s time for people to start venturing back outside to enjoy the warmer weather and longer days. For many of us, this may entail doing more work in our yards or gardens. For others, it’s a time to do more hiking, jogging, or to start enjoying more outdoor sports. Regardless of what you are doing, it’s often the case that it is a change in and/or an increase in activity beyond what you may have been doing the past few months.

While this is ideal and we should be getting outside more, the sudden increase in activity for some people can lead to a higher frequency of sprains, strains, and overuse-types of injuries. For those that are starting to garden more often or do more yard work, it is not uncommon to see knee pain develop from frequently squatting or kneeling. Similar issues may develop in the lower back or shoulders as people are often lifting, carrying, pulling more when out in their yards or digging in their gardens. For those starting to hike or run more frequently or for longer distances, it is not uncommon to see tendinitis arise in the Achilles tendon, patellar tendon (knee), or gluteal tendons (hips).

For some people, they may be able to point to one event or incident that created their pain. For others, it may have been more of a gradual onset. Either way, what the injury often boils down to is more stress being applied on the involved body part than what it can handle. Many times, my patients report that the one incident that caused their pain was something they had done several times before without a problem. A similar feeling may occur in those problems of more gradual onset, with the person feeling as if they had not been doing anything much different than what they had done in the past. Notwithstanding that sometimes our memories are not as clear regarding previous incidents, much of the time the injury reflects a cumulative amount of stress over a long period eventually leading to the breakdown of the tendon, joint, or muscle.

So, what do we do about this? The ultimate goal should be to build up our bodies in such a way that the level of stress we can handle is far higher than the actual stress we put on ourselves. That is not permission to just try to keep everything low stress on the body, but rather try and build it up our body’s resiliency as much as we can.

Exercise does much of that for us. If you ever played sports, think of it as practicing harder than you play. I was a baseball player growing up, and I had a coach that would hit ground balls to me during practice far harder than I would ever see come off the bat during a game. Initially, I took so many balls off my shins that I bought shin guards to protect them. Overtime, I adapted to the speed of the ball and became very confident fielding it. By the time I got to the game, there was rarely a ball hit to me that compared to what I had to field in practice, and therefore my concern level with playing defense was miniscule. That should be the same for us whether we are working in our yard or going for a long run. Not only building our body’s ability to handle stress, but becoming more confident in our ability to handle more strenuous tasks.

If you like to work in the garden or your yard, you should be doing some type of exercise throughout the year that involves lifting, pushing, pulling, squatting, and carrying weights (sorry, while doing yardwork and gardening does benefit you in different ways, it does not build your body up the same as exercise does. That can be a whole other blog). Similar for hikers or runners. You will gain endurance in these activities from doing them, but incorporating a program that includes strength training of your trunk and legs will go a long way in not only improving your performance, but in reducing the risk of injuries from doing it. And it does not have to take a lot of time. Performing a well-balanced strength training routine twice a week can do a lot of good.

Finally, there are some instances in which no matter what you do, your body may just not tolerate performing some activities as well. This is where it can help to pace activities, to learn adaptations, or to utilize equipment that makes the task less physically demanding. When working with patients, we try to take all of this into account, then base the program and/or modify their current tasks based on their goals and willingness to commit to change. If you are dealing with an injury that is preventing you from getting outside and enjoying it, consider setting up a free consultation with us to learn about your problem and have a personalized plan set created for you.

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Released: April 27, 2025