When gardening season begins, green thumbs all over the world prepare for weeks of cultivating, growing, and harvesting their garden. While the reward of a beautiful garden is uniquely amazing, all of those hours of work can take a toll on your body. We curated some of the best options to help you garden without dealing with all the aches and pains.
Ergonomic Garden Kneeler $20-$60:
Pros: Gives you three alternative positions to access your garden (sitting, low sitting, and kneeling) and provides sturdy handles which you can brace to assist with getting up and down from the ground.
Cons: Can be challenging on uneven ground and the seat height is not adjustable.
Heavy Duty Kneeling Pad $6-$35:
Pros: Definitely one of the more affordable options to use that gives knees cushion when kneeling on hard surfaces while gardening, enabling you to garden longer, more comfortably. Can double as a seat pad.
Cons: Some find it not to be enough padding for long periods on concrete surfaces. Also, this does require that you have to get up and move it with you (unlike knee pads).
Knee Pads $10-$45:
Pros: Also one of the more affordable options to help save the knees, knee pads enable freer movement around the garden when getting down on low surfaces. Nice to use on hilly banks, as well as flat surfaces. Furthermore, helps in keepings your pants/legs from getting quite as mucky.
Cons: Really only useful to you if you are kneeling versus other gardening positions. Also, with a lot of work, may require readjustment to keep from falling out of place.
Standing Weeders $15-$40:
Pros: Again, increases your level arm to easily remove weeds, but what is so nice about this one is that you can use your foot to assist getting it into the ground and the additional foot lever acts as added support as you pull up the weed, reducing strain to the shoulders.
Cons: Most people love what it does - the biggest complaint is the longevity of the product. Best used when the ground is wet vs dry.
Pros: Increases your lever arm to easily remove weeds while in a standing position.
Cons: This does increase strain through your arms and shoulders in a different way.
Pros: Increases your lever arm to easily remove weeds while in a standing position. Also, made of metal parts, which tend to last longer.
Cons: This does transfer the work from you back and places it more through your arms and shoulders. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however, if you have shoulder or other upper extremity challenges, you may want to stick with the first weeder.
Alternative Grip Tools
Pros: This option can reduce strain through the wrist by offering alternative hand positions and grips with the thicker, curved handle.
Cons: Can feel awkward at first if you are used to using the straight handled tools, but after a little practice, that becomes less of a con. May be challenging if you have any impairments in the elbows or shoulders of the working arm.
Pros: Gives an alternative grip for digging, cultivating and weeding that can reduce strain through the hands and wrists.
Cons: Does require that you get down on your hands and knees to effectively use the tool (unless you have a raised garden bed).
Pros: Having the extra handle lightens the load through both shoulders and reduces how much bend you need to place through the hips and low back to exert the same force.
Cons: This can be an expensive upgrade to your tool set. If so, the tool below may be a better option if you already have tools lying around
Pros: Having the extra handle lightens the load through both shoulders and reduces how much bend you need to place through the hips and low back to exert the same force.
Cons: This can be an expensive upgrade to your tool set. If so, the tool below may be a better option if you already have tools lying around
Pros: A less expensive option that can be used on a wide range of gardening tools that you may already have to give you the benefit of an added handle like those listed above. Similarly, having the extra handle lightens the load through both shoulders and reduces how much bend you need to place through the hips and low back to exert the same force.
Cons: May not work with all tools, as it will move around if the shaft is too thin and won’t fit if the shaft is too thick.
Happy gardening and contact us if you have any questions!