Tools for easier gardening
Gardening needn’t necessarily be abandoned because of impaired mobility, limited strength or other health problems. Consumers now have a wide variety of options to make gardening easier or more accessible?—?from specialty hand tools to accessories that can be used to modify existing tools. Many are also effective at preventing such maladies as repetitive-motion injuries and back strain.
- Tools with ergonomically designed handles help keep the hand in a natural position: wrists straight, hands rotated and relaxed, fingers curled and thumbs straight. “Pistol-grip” and curved handles encourage this posture. Tools with permanent or add-on arm braces and support cuffs further reduce hand strain, transferring strength from the forearm directly to the blade or tines.
- Yard tools with telescopic handles help extend reach and are particularly useful for gardening in a sitting position, such as from a bench or wheelchair. This design is available in rakes, cultivators and trowels. Extended-reach pruners are also available.
- Pruners and loppers with racheting mechanisms help boost cutting power. They grip and hold a branch, allowing the user to release and squeeze again, cutting a single branch progressively.
- The Bionic™ gardening glove, designed by an orthopedic hand surgeon, received the Arthritis Foundation’s Ease of Use commendation for its ability to help reduce hand fatigue and maintain gripping strength. The anatomically positioned palm pads are designed to support the hand’s natural closure and provide protection against development of calluses and blisters.
- The Arthritis Foundation also gave its seal of approval to Fiskars PowerGear® tools, which are said to provide 35 percent more cutting power compared to standard manual tools. They have rotating finger grips and adjustable hand-opening sizes and are available in pruners, loppers and hedge shears.
- Cut-and-hold floral snips grasp the stems of roses and other flowers after they are cut so they don’t drop to the ground, which is especially helpful for gardeners with the use of only one hand. This action is also available in larger pruners that sever branches or cut and harvest fruit in a single motion.
- Oscillating hoes have hinged, stirrup-shaped blades that cut on both the forward and backward motion. Since dirt doesn’t stack up behind the blade, the hoe reduces back strain from stooping and bending. The blades can be attached to a regular tool handle or broom handle.
- Add-on T-grip and D-grip handles are available for straight-handled tools such as snow shovels, rakes and hoes. They help increase lifting/pushing power and leverage while decreasing back and wrist strain.
Learn more about specialty tools at www.handhelpers.com.