Plant and Rake without the Ache

After yet another long winter, the gardening season is finally upon us and with it the opportunity to get outdoors and become more active.Although you may not be working at a fast pace, typical yard chores like raking, planting, and weeding all take effort and potentially can cause injury if overdone or done incorrectly. Just like a sporting activity, it is important to do both a warm-up and cool down before doing yardwork or gardening to prevent injuries. The Ontario Chiropractic Association has developed an excellent program called Plant and Rake Without the Ache to help minimize injuries while gardening.

Overall conditioning:

Take a walk, even on the spot. Ten to fifteen minutes should do it.Don’t forget to lift your knees and gently swing your arms.

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To plant and rake without the ache, do each of these stretches five times.Don’t bounce, jeer or strain.Stretches should be gentle and should not cause pain.

Your Sides:

Extend one arm over your head. Bend left from the waist. Hold for 15 seconds and repeat to the right.

Your Thighs: Lean against a tree. Bend your right knee and grasp your ankle with your left hand. Hold for 15 seconds and repeat with your left knee.

Your Hamstrings: Stand.

Reach your hands to the sky. Then, bending at the waist, reach toward your toes. Hold for 15 seconds

Your Wrists: Hold one arm out in front of you palm down.

Bend your wrist until the fingers point to the ground.

Use your opposite hand to hold this position.

Place your hands in “prayer” position and press palms together.

Keep your arm straight and place your palm in the “stop” position.

Use your opposite hand to hold this position.

Your Shoulders:

Let your arms hang loose.

Rotate your shoulders forward.Then rotate back.

Hug yourself snugly. Slowly rotate at the waist as far as is comfortable to the left then the right.

Your Back:

In a seated position bend from the hips, keeping your head down. Reach for the ground.

Bend Your Knees to Lift with Ease

1 Get close to the load. Before lifting something heavy, position yourself close to the object.Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, head up, with your feet and body pointing in the same direction.

2 Knees bent, back straight.Check the weight of what you are lifting.Use your leg and arm muscles to lift the load smoothly and slowly.

3 Make sure you are in sync.Keep the load close to your body. Pivot with your feet – don’t twist your body while carrying the load.

4 Easy does it.Bend your knees and slowly lower the load to its intended place.

5 Do not lift heavy objects above your waist and avoid heavy lifting immediately after prolonged bending or kneeling.

6 Many hands make light work.Get some help with the heavy and awkward loads. Stand on something solid and slowly lift the load keeping it close to your body and pass the load to your helper.

Another idea is to alternate sides, especially with repetitive activities like raking. Alternating the lead foot or lead hand can help prevent biomechanical imbalances. Visitwww.chiropractic.on.ca for more information.

James DiGiuseppe is a local chiropractor with a busy family and wellness practice.For more health information or to contact Dr. DiGiuseppe visit: www.portarthurchiropractic.com

©2023

Brian Babcock

Chances are that you have heard of business deals done on the back of a bar napkin, but that is hardly good business- it is risky business.

Are you an investor in a small or medium sized business? Is your business incorporated or is it a partnership? Depending on which it is, you need either in unanimous shareholders agreement or a partnership agreement. The Ontario Business Corporations Act and the Partnerships Act provide some default rules for how you conduct your business with your fellow shareholders or partners. They do not provide anything more than general guidelines for the internal management of your business. This is probably a good idea since most people have their own ideas about how they want things to run.

Your partnership or shareholders agreement should cover everything from the birth of the business to its end. It should include :

• who is to invest and how much.

• the expectations for the parties work in the business and to contribute to the management of the business.

• what business is the business in? You would not want to invest your savings in what you thought was a conservative residential rental business to find that your partner had put all of the money into buying vacant land for development.

• what are the rules for the partners having outside business interests?

• how will conflicts of interest be dealt with?