Gardening is a very popular hobby in the US, with about 25% of American adults doing it. And 2/3 of gardeners are 45 or older, so some of them may find that gardening is harder due to arthritis pain or other disabilities.

One of the common problems with gardeners is that many of them are a bit stubborn! That is, they think they are still 18, but their body does not agree. This means that of course you can continue to garden, but you need to adapt your approach a bit to account for your arthritis pain.

Our easy-grip gardening products allow arthritis sufferers to garden with less pain.

Try these simple tips from The Tree Center to exercise your ‘green thumb’ with less pain:

1. Continue with arthritis management: Work with your doctor and physical therapist to manage your arthritis pain continuously. Do not just focus on the pain on the days that you garden.
2. Change up the routine: Most of us have a routine of daily gardening chores. If you are used to spending hours on flower beds, pruning and weeding, you are probably going to have some pain problems. Most folks have a flare up after an hour or so of this activity. So, you should try to take regular breaks, or go to another activity for a bit. Also, spread your gardening chores out over the week rather than just on a weekend.
3. Buy gardening tools suited for people with arthritis. Try our  Peta Easi-Grip Garden Trowel, or our Peta Easi-Grip Weeder. More easy-grip gardening tools are here. If you need a quick fix, just try to wrap pipe insulation around the handles of your regular gardening tools. This will make them thicker and easier to handle. You also can purchase Easi-Grip Add On Handles to adapt your current tools to make them more arthritis friendly.
4. Buy electric tools. A replacement tool that is electronic can do great things for your arthritis pain. Rather than using manual shears to trim, buy an electric pair so you can avoid that repetitive motion. But note that a vibrating power tool can, after awhile, also aggravate your arthritis pain. So be sure to take a break if you start to feel symptoms coming on.
5. Use knee pads. You can either buy knee pads, or buy a gardening bench that has knee pads. This allows you to easily go from sitting to kneeling as needed.
6. Get help. Most gardeners do not want to ask for help in working in the garden. But if you have any heavy lifting, tree planting or debris hauling to do, be sure to ask for some help for those tough jobs.