Though Thanksgiving is almost upon us and “Jingle Bells” and “Deck the Halls” aren’t too far behind, many of us are undertaking the task of raking the leaves that have fallen from the trees. We remember what that is all about – muscles that have not been used in a year will be sore again.

What we have to remember is that most of us have not done tasks like raking in a while, and there is a correct way to do it without injuring your back. Sore muscles are one thing – sore backs are another. Don’t get them confused.

Sore backs usually come from doing things with the incorrect techniques. We are all familiar with the adage “lift with your knees, not your back,” but we have all lifted something that caused pain in our backs. It is usually that fairly light thing that we lift all the time.

Somehow it’s true that when we know that something is heavy, we almost always lift it the correct way but when something is light, it takes too much time and we can’t be bothered.

The same can be said for things like raking. Raking is an annoying, tedious, yet fairly simple task that has to be done. It correlates with the same motion as mopping and sweeping the floors, but with more resistance—grass and leaves weigh much more than dust. Most of us keep our feet planted and try to stretch our arms out as far as we can reach to get that last clump. Then we pull that clump back to us in one big motion. When we do that, we flex and rotate our spines causing our backs to have a susceptibility to injury. This motion in particular has been known to cause disc problems in our spines.

A way to avoid this is to remember an easy tip – you never have to straighten your elbows to reach your destination. If you are standing upright, then you should always have your elbows bent and pull more with your shoulders and your arms than your back (kind of like “knees instead of back,” use “shoulders instead of back.”)

The other thing to remember is to hold your belly button in toward your spine. Then the “big” muscles of the abdominals will be doing the work, and not the small muscles of the back. So now you have two lines of defense –. arms and shoulders and abdominals. The last thing to remember is that you need to alternate sides. Balance is key. To the left for a little while, to the right for a little while.

Hopefully all of these tips are helpful and you prevent a back injury. If you get into a pinch and are sore after, then assume you were bending too much at your back and just lay flat on your stomach for about two minutes. Don’t sleep like that, just stretch. Don’t watch TV in that position or read, just stretch. No more than two minutes! If that doesn’t solve it, then it is time to call your local physical therapist and get the muscles and spine back to being coordinated and aligned. Don’t think it is just “a sore back and it will go away.” It usually does for a little while and then comes right back!

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