Eight ways to prevent gardening-related muscles strains and pain this season.

With gardening, I anticipate clients coming to see me with muscle strains and familiar tension and pain patterns from over-doing it on yardwork and planting.  It's so easy to do more gardening activities than you plan to since it's both enjoyable and necessary. Here are nine ways to prevent pain and tension from accumulating in your body so you can enjoy this beautiful weather and get your yardwork to-do list done!

Get the gear - Wear clothes that are comfortable and easy to move around in. Sitting on a stool is easier on your knees than kneeling for long periods on the ground. Or use a foam gardening pad to make kneeling more comfortable. If you regularly clean up leaves from your lawn, make sure you have an easy to carry basket and don't fill it too full before you empty it.

Don't forget to stretch! - You'll prevent muscle strains and keep muscle tension at bay by stretching your muscles before, during, and after gardening. Hamstrings, glutes, and hip flexors all get tight, not to mention shoulders and chest muscles.

Take frequent breaks - I set a timer on my phone for 30min before I start gardening or yardwork, and when the timer goes off I take a stretch and hydration break. This helps ease tension that builds up in muscles and lets your body recover a little bit at a time, which in turn helps keep your body more comfortable while you're gardening. If it's your first few times working in your garden in springtime, your body needs time to get used to gardening again, so take more frequent breaks and limit your time in the garden to one to two hours total. This will prevent unwanted soreness the day after.

Get help with heavy lifting or make more trips - Don't feel like you have to lift heavy bags of leaves, twigs, and branches. Make more trips to your yardwaste bin with smaller loads, and the walking you'll do will give your muscles a break from your yardwork activities. Get a friend or partner to help with the really awkward lifting and carrying to avoid muscle strains and injury.

Hydrate well (and take in some electrolytes) - Keep a water bottle on hand that you can sip from without taking off your gloves. Drinking water with electrolytes in it or coconut water which contains minerals like magnesium and potassium, help your muscles stay hydrated and more flexible.

Eat some protein - Protein snacks keep your energy up for longer and provide muscles with fuel to get stronger. A yoghurt, piece of cheese, jerky, or quinoa salad make healthy protein snacks.

Use hydrotherapy to relieve tension/pain - Taking an Epsom salt bath or hot shower will help your muscles recover faster from tension and stiffness after gardening. Muscles stretch more easily when warm, so after a hot bath or shower is a great time to get a couple more stretches in.

Get a massage - One massage can temporarily relieve muscle tension and soreness, but a series of sessions will prevent strains and injuries, increase muscle flexibility over time, and help your muscles recover from soreness faster and get stronger more quickly.