As much as it pains me to admit this, I think that even after decades of gardening, I still don't know the right way to pull weeds.
Feel free to laugh at this admission. I'd probably laugh myself if it weren't happening to me and if it didn't hurt so much.
My first few weeding sessions each spring are followed by a day or two of hideous back pain whenever I try to sit down or lie down or get back up. Stooping, crouching, and kneeling are completely out of the question, and the slightest effort to do any of these evokes moans and shouts that scare the cats.
The other day I bent down to put food in the cats' dishes and couldn't straighten up. Moaning and groaning, I finally managed to lie down flat on the floor, take many deep breaths, and wiggle over to a wall of cupboards so that I could hang onto something while getting up. Lying on the floor, completely helpless, for that short time was an eyeopener. In addition to being horrendously painful, it made me furious that I don't mop the floor more often.
Is this a case of using the wrong technique, or is it simply a matter of suddenly using certain muscles again after not using them for several months in winter? In either case, I need a solution. Is there anything I should be doing after these early weeding sessions? Are there special stretching exercises I should be doing, for instance, or should I use an ice pack on my lower back when I come back inside?
