Leaf Raking Injuries

People know that it’s a great idea to stretch out before they exercise, but very few actually do it. That can lead to injuries and pain.

Year after year, we end up with patients who have sore backs and aching bodies because they didn’t take the proper precautions before raking leaves. It doesn’t sound like it should lead to injuries, but it does. Let’s talk about why.

What Muscles Do You Use When Raking Leaves?

A surprising number of muscles are involved in raking leaves. Because you are pulling with your arms, the primary muscles you engage are your biceps. But that motion also requires help from your shoulder muscles, rotator cuff, and deltoids.

Then, bagging the leaves uses your quadriceps, glutes, and all your core stabilizer muscles. In effect, raking leaves can become a long-chain exercise, hitting most of the major muscle groups in your body.

Is Raking Leaves a Strenuous Exercise?

Yes, though it is not necessarily a vigorous activity. Because so much of your body is used in the process of raking leaves, it is a strenuous exercise. Whenever you use multiple large muscle groups in an exercise, your body is exerting more than it does with a simple exercise like bicep curls. 

Many people don’t realize the additional weight that builds up in wet, decaying leaves, so you may be pulling more than you realize. Additionally, this is a repetitive stress motion. The act of raking is the same thing over and over with muscle groups that are not typically used that way. All that together means that the most common leaf-raking injuries are sore backs and shoulders.

The motion of pulling things toward us is not something we do with a lot of frequency and certainly not with the force and repetition that we do when we rake leaves. And most people don’t think to alternate their position or the side they are pulling with, according to HealthCentral.

Because we are never actually trained how to rake leaves without injuring ourselves, many end up facing autumn with sore, aching muscles or even muscle strains and pulls.

Can the Graston Technique® Help with a Raking Injury?

You may have heard that the best thing to do after overexerting a muscle is to take some form of pain reliever and relax, but that’s not the best way to minimize your pain and speed up your recovery.

If you must take a pain reliever, there is only one that we at East Bay will recommend: Nutrametrix Isotonix OPC-3. But the better way to fight the inflammation is with good nutrition, including natural anti-inflammatory nutrients such as grape seed extract, Boswellia, and curcumin. Even better is to use the Graston Technique®.

According to this study published by Illinois State University, the Graston Technique® helps stimulate the development of hemoglobin in the blood when used to treat non-specific neck pain. And why does stimulating your blood matter when you are dealing with pain?

To remove inflammation from your muscles, you need to increase blood flow. Your blood will carry away the impurities causing the discomfort and send nutrients and oxygen to your muscles, creating a faster recovery time with less soreness.

Using the Graston Technique®, we stimulate the muscle and help speed your recovery.

Contact East Bay Chiropractic Wellness for Relief from Leaf Raking Injuries

If you have injured yourself raking leaves, planting annuals, or just making the bed, the Graston Technique® can help speed up your recovery. Contact us to schedule an appointment and we can help to alleviate your pain.