Ideas please to help a keen gardener who is developing arthritis in her hands.

There are lots of tools out there fortunately. www.welcomemobility.co.uk is one website to look at which offers advice. If there is a disability centre near you give them a ring and see if they have any gardening tools either recommended or better still on display.

I agree with Shysal, I too have the motorised Bosch secateurs and small motorised hedge trimmer and they enable me to do all the jobs I was finding difficult. But a word of advice, buy from a reputable dealer. My Bosch secateurs were from an eBay shop, brand new and still in packaging but after 6 weeks they stopped working. I suspect it is a fault with the charging unit, but I am still waiting to hear whether they will refund me as it's outside of eBay's "return window". When I've finished gardening I rub ibuprofen gel into my wrists and finger joints and put cotton gloves on followed by a wrist support. It seems to work to reduce any inflammation around the joints.

I find compression gloves support my hands and keep them warm. Can be worn under gardening gloves. Available online.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202308/medium-803833-bosch-secateurs.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202308/medium-795359-bosch-trimmer.jpg

I have RA which affects my wrists and hands. The tools which help the most are the following Bosch rechargeable items:
Secateurs
Trimmer
Not cheap, but worth every penny to me.

I use garden equipment with wrist support, or at right angle handles, it has helped greatly.

In a similar situation to your friend, have. a huge garden which I love but is very hard work. Find after a few hours in the garden my hands ache for the next day, my grip is getting much weaker too so I'll be following this thread for any tips.

You can get a range of battery operated gardening tools, such as secateurs, sheers, lawn-mower etc. This are light weight and you do not have to use the strength you no longer have in your hands in order to use them. And they have the added advantage of there being no flex to bother about!

Does Shopmobility sell stuff for arthritic sufferers? I am aware of all sorts of tools specifically designed for disabled folk, but not sure who sells them. I bet Amazon does though.

I can only garden for about an hour at a time, maybe an hour in the morning then an hour in the evening, ratchet secateurs are easier to use for me, but not for very long.
If I do more than an hour twice a day it will mean that I can’t use my hands much for a few days, slow and steady is how I have to garden now.

If you Google easy grip garden tools you’ll get lots of links comes. This is just one. HTH! www.arthritissupplies.com/peta-easi-grip-garden-tools-set-of-3.html

I have a pair of ratchet secateurs that are a great help as my hands are full of ‘Arthur’ nowadays.