Taking Sides – Your Digging Muscles

Digging is a one-legged activity. One foot is on the spade, and the other leg is straight. The pelvic bone and the muscles that run through it provide support for both legs, regardless of the activity.

Because we as human creatures, tend to do our regular activities the same way nearly every time (it’s called habit), we set ourselves up to be what I call “an accident waiting to happen”. Working only one way creates strong and weak spots throughout the musculature. When this happens in the pelvis, especially, we risk losing support for the spine, knees and other joints. The pelvis is the center of balance for the human body. We mess with it when we neglect to vary our positions, and our styles of movement.

The best way to deal with this is to become body aware, to learn about alignment and to strengthen your core posture muscles. Especially the abdominal muscles. So think Pilates, yoga, Feldenkrais and body work. After you’ve firmly planted these types of activities in your routine, try switching sides for just a few minutes every gardening session. This is to give your mind-body connection a chance to try something new. You only need a few moments of this to start. Over time your muscles and brain will get used to it and you’ll be able to increase the length of time you spend in the non-usual position.