Protecting Your Joints When Doing Chores Outside

Protecting Your Joints When Doing Chores Outside

 

Senior man rolling trash can outside
Try these tips to protect your joints, prevent joint stress and strain, and keep your joint problems from getting worse. Talk to your health care provider for more ideas.

General tips

  • Prepare your joints for activity by warming up with light stretches.
  • Change positions often.
  • Place items you use often in easy reach. Place heavy items at waist level to limit lifting.
  • Take a rest break about every 30 minutes so that you do not get tired. Check in with your body and decide if it’s best to continue working or save remaining tasks for another day.
  • Ask for help.
  • Respect your pain. If an activity causes pain, change the way you do the activity or stop and take a rest break whether or not you’ve finished the task. Check in with your body often and use the tips in this handout to conserve your energy. Talk to your health care team if there is something you need help with, so you don’t strain your joints.

Tips for doing chores outside

  • Use small trash bags to reduce the weight that you carry to the trash can. Get a trash can with wheels to help move trash easily to the street for pick up.
  • Use a snow blower or leaf blower to remove snow and leaves.
  • Use long handled tools. Use both hands on the handles. Pull debris toward your body, using long strokes. Foam handles and gloves can help make gripping easier. 
  • Use ergonomic shovels for snow, dirt, etc.
  • Use a cart or wagon to haul heavier tools.
  • Use a riding lawn mower.

Gardening tips

  • Check with your garden shop about planning a low maintenance garden or yard. Flowering trees or shrubs are easier to care for than plants. You may want to put in a rock garden rather than having grass to mow or a mulch bed to maintain. 
  • Try raised garden beds, so you don’t have to bend. You can also place pots on a wall or table. 
  • Alternate the type of tasks that you do, such as weeding, watering, and planting, to reduce repeated stress on your joints.
  • Use a wheelbarrow or cart to move tools and plants around your yard.
  • Use a stool or small wagon to sit on while you work in your yard. 
  • Store garden tools closest to where you use them.
  • Garden at the right time of day, staying out of extreme heat or cold. Work when you have the most energy. 
  • Try to weed or dig after rain or watering when the soil is loose. Mulch around trees and shrubs to keep weeds down. 
  • Use tools that have long handles, have large handles with textured grips, or are ergonomic. Shop online for ergonomic tools to limit strain on arms, hands, and back. 
  • Wear gloves to improve grip on tools and make gripping plants and bags of material easier. Use loop handle scissors or a box cutter to open bags of mulch or dirt. 
  • Carry watering cans in 2 hands from underneath, or transport in a wheelbarrow. Use sprinklers or soaker hoses to limit carrying water. 

© 2008 – March 23, 2022, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

This handout is for informational purposes only. Talk with your doctor or health care team if you have any questions about your care. For more health information call the Library for Health Information at 614-293-3707 or email: health-info@osu.edu.