It is officially spring. I’m still adjusting to day light savings time. And I can really feel that strong spring energy. You’ve probably felt it even if you haven’t had a name for it. It’s the energy to get up and get moving, to start doing and creating. It’s the energy behind spring cleaning.

I have one patient in particular who embodies this energy and she is an avid gardener. Every spring, we talk about how exciting it is to get back to tending her garden beds and every spring she comes in saying that she over did it and her back is sore. I certainly am no stranger to this situation either.

If you too are guilty of over doing it. Here are a few things that you can do that might be able to help out.

Take a walk. This might sound a little silly, but bear with me. If you’ve spent hours bent over a garden bed, working on a project in the garage, or cleaning, your back and core muscles are have worked super to keep you in one position. Now you need to shake it out so to speak. Going for a walk around the neighborhood is a way to get gentle movement to your muscles, increasing blood flow which will hasten recovery and decrease soreness the next day. It's a form of active recovery.

Take Omega 3 (fish oil). The reason people take fish oil is to reduce inflammation which can cause issues in every part of your body including your muscles. Since the soreness after working out comes from an inflammatory response to working your muscles, the thought is that taking fish oil regularly or before working out could reduce the soreness afterwards. One study showed just that. A workout can be what typically comes to mind first, at the gym, running, biking etc. Or a workout can be the act of using muscles through gardening, cleaning or just being more active now that its spring.
Acupuncture. Oh yeah, and acupuncture can help too. It’s my personal go-to when I have not been the best at doing the top 2 recommendations. Treatments can focus on either a specific area is sore or a general recovery.

I hope you enjoy spring this year, that the sunshine and warmer temperatures bring a bit of peace to your heart.

All the best,

Kathryn

PS- those are not my crocuses. Mine were devoured by the rabbits. If you have tips for how to prevent rabbits from eating your flowers, I’m all ears!