How Heavy is a Plant Pot?

This week, has been a busy week in the clinic, we’ve been inundated with phone calls from people hurting themselves in their gardens. This isn’t uncommon, especially this time of year, the weather is good and the bedding plants, shrubs, lawns and hedges are growing like crazy, so there’s loads to do!

This very often means we are overloaded with jobs in the garden and I think many people underestimate the weight of some common garden objects. I suppose familiarity breeds contempt, so we don’t take lifting tasks seriously as we should. So I thought I’d weigh some objects to quantify how hard gardening can be, to help you risk assess your lifting and carrying.

An accurate risk assessment, is your first line of defence against getting injured, knowing where your limits are, and being honest with yourself if a job exceeds your limits. I understand very often we just want to get the job done, and not wait for somebody else to help us move a plant pot or watering can. Unfortunately, your back doesn’t care about when the job gets done, it is concerned about its capacity to do the task!

For those lifts and movements that are within your abilities please see the rest of our gardening series, where we explore exercises and techniques to help you continue to be effective and efficient in your garden.