Can you enjoy gardening with arthritic hands? Will it make your condition worse? People with arthritic hands can do gardening if you do it properly and have specialized gardening tools for this health problem.
Here are the best pruners for arthritic hands you can buy in 2024:
- Max Comfort: The gardener's Friend Pruners
- Best Budget Option: Fiskars Softgrip Bypass Pruner
- Easiest to Hold: Sleek Garden Hand Pruner
- Soft Foam Handle: LINGSFIRE Garden Shear
- Best for Pruning Pines: Okatsune Professional Snips
| 5 Best Pruners For Arthritic Hands | ||
|---|---|---|
Max Comfort | The gardener's Friend Pruners | |
Best Budget Option | Fiskars Softgrip Bypass Pruner | |
Easiest to Hold | Sleek Garden Hand Pruner | |
Soft Foam Handle | LINGSFIRE Garden Shear | |
Best for Pruning Pines | Okatsune Professional Snips | |
Max Comfort: The gardener's Friend Pruners
Safe
Simple
A bit hard to close
The gardener's Friend Pruners feature maximum comfort because you can make quick and easy cuts with less effort on your end.
Why?
They are designed with a ratchet mechanism, which uses leverage to give you significant support to perform any conventional pruner. That means that you don't have to put a lot of pressure on the pruners, but you can still have an outstanding outcome.
| The gardener's Friend Pruners Specifications | |
|---|---|
Cut capacity (inch) | 1 inch |
Length | 0.55 |
Weight | 7.2 ounces |
Materials | Rubber handle |
If you have serious arthritic hands, this product will support you as much as possible.
Best Budget Option: Fiskars Softgrip Bypass Pruner
Comfortable grip
Lightweight
Pretty hard to handle large branches
The most popular misconception of every buyer is that the more expensive product is, the higher quality is. And a cheap tool is useless. After learning Fiskars Softgrip Bypass Pruner in detail, you will change your mind for sure. It can help you fulfill most of the pruning tasks.
This bypass pruner works well as a pair of scissors. When cutting, the sharped blade on one side will pass an unsharpened blade on another side without damaging the remaining stems. Thus, your plant can heal its cut quickly as well as encourage new growth.
Its razor-sharp blade has around 0.3um or microns edge (the high sharpness). At this level, just touching the edge of the blade can cut hair easily. Thus, you can cut any branch with less effort.
The low-friction coating offers an abrasion-resistant, durable, and slippery surface to remove wear problems and protect the tool from sap and debris.
| Fiskars Softgrip Bypass Pruner Specifications | |
|---|---|
Cut capacity (inch) | 5/8 inch |
Length | 10.75 |
Weight | 5.9 ounces |
What's the best part? You will get all of these outstanding features at a reasonable price.
Easiest to Hold: Sleek Garden Hand Pruner
Durable
Safe
Sharp
Sleek
Simple to lock and unlock
Some users can't open the blades fully.
Please forget the heavy and bulky pruners, causing pains on your arthritic hands when continuously holding in a long time.
This tool can perfectly fit your hands, and you can use them quickly and conveniently without any pain. These pruners are made from lightweight and high-density material. Therefore, no matter which movements and positions your hands, arms, and the tool contact much, it won't cause pain points.
| Sleek Garden Hand Pruner Specifications | |
|---|---|
Length | 3.6 |
Weight | 11.2 ounces |
Materials | rust-fighting aluminum |
When enjoying your gardening with Sleek Garden Hand Pruner, you don't have to worry about hand fatigue and strain.
Soft Foam Handle: LINGSFIRE Garden Shear
Durable
Safe
Sharp
Suitable to cut both small and large branches
The hinges and locking mechanism lack quality
What do people with arthritic hands need in the best pruners? Of course, it should be an easy-to-use and comfortable tool, right?
And the handles will directly influence comfort. Here is the good news:
The soft foam handle is the outstanding feature of LINGSFIRE Garden Shear. Its soft ergonomically non-slip handle grip can create a firm grip on the handles of the pruners. Thus, you will have full control without using a lot of effort.
Furthermore, these handles are made from forged aluminum alloy. This material is lightweight enough to keep the pruners in your hand comfortably. At the same time, it also minimizes strain and fatigue on your arthritic hands.
| LINGSFIRE Garden Shear Specifications | |
|---|---|
Cut capacity (inch) | 8 inches |
Length | 1.97 |
Weight | 10.4 ounces |
Materials | Aluminum+PVC+Sponge Cover |
With LINGSFIRE Garden Shear, you can expect handles as comfortable as possible.
Best for Pruning Pines: Okatsune Professional Snips
Very sharp
Easy to hold
Not good material
If you are the owner of pine trees, you might know that they don't require much care, even they can grow well in poor soil conditions. However, pruning plays a vital role in the development of pine trees. In case you skip this process in spring, your plants can't form buds for next years, and will die after a few years.
Pine trees can grow to majestic heights. If you don't want that they overgrow where you plant, cut the candle to decrease the eventual length.
The ideal time to cut prune pine is when it is green. At this time, your plants are pretty weak. You should use Okatsune with the sharp and thin blade (1.8in) to get accurate cuts without damaging soft tissues. With the weight of 4oz and the total length of 7.5in, these pruners are lightweight and compact enough to cut quickly and easily.
| Okatsune Professional Snips Specifications | |
|---|---|
Cut capacity (inch) | 1.8in |
Length | 7.5in |
Weight | 4oz |
Okatsune Professional Snips is a worthy and long-term investment for your pine trees.
How To Choose The Best Pruner For Arthritic Hands?
It's crucial to choose a good pruner for arthritic hands. If you make a wrong decision, it can make your hand condition worse. Now, it's time to consider the following characteristics:
Authentic Materials
If you have arthritic hands, you should care more about the quality of material than the styling.
High-quality materials can bring efficient outcomes, especially last longer. For example, a steel pruner can resist rust and corrosion as well as put up with wear and tear over time.
It's better to invest in a tool with stick-proof coating, which can keep the blades against sap. Therefore, this feature can minimize sap-stick and constant sap-cleaning.
Finally, to decrease strain on your hands, you had better pick up handles designed close together.
Ergonomic Design and Comfort
Using pruners for an extended period can cause wrist fatigue. This case might be worse in the event of your arthritic hands. Thus, make sure that you can hold and use them as comfortable as possible with the minimum strains.
It's best to choose a product with ergonomic design because this tool comes with comfortable grip handles. In particular, this type of design is rotatable to support your wrists in any position when pruning.
Cutting Capacity
Having a sharp blade and an ideal cutting capacity is very vital to keep your arthritic hands from hurting even when you have an ergonomic mechanism.
You can determine the cutting capacity level through how large the blades can open and if you can cut through thick stems and branches.
Ensure that you can open the blades enough to cut through at least 2.5 inches branches.
Replaceable Parts
Most of the pruner parts are irreplaceable. If you use this tool regularly, it will wear out and break in the long run. And in case you can't find out any replaceable part, your model will become useless.
Thus, even looking for replacements is a hard task; you should ask the availability for replaceable parts from the manufacturer.
Others
Apart from the features above, keep in mind to consider these elements: size, weight, and safety.
Weight and size will influence how much effort you need to hold and use pruners. In the case of a large and complicated-to-carry tool, you will have to withstand a lot of strains and pains in your wrists and hands.
When it comes to size, just ask yourself, "Does it fit into your hand properly?" Make sure that the pair of pruners is no so bulky that you can't carry around.
How about safety?
The pruners are very sharp, especially you have to carry them around frequently. For the maximum safety, your pruners had better have a carrying case and locking mechanism.
When carrying the pruners around or not in use, let you close the sharp blade by using the locking mechanism to keep your skin from unexpected accidents.
The carrying case has a similar function, but it just covers the sharp blades when you don't use your tool.
Which Brands Make The Best Pruner For Arthritic Hands?
The Gardener's Friend
The Gardener's Friend gardening tools have ergonomic designs. They are ideal supports for those who get hand mobility issues such as Tendonitis, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Arthritis, and other painful conditions. These tools can't treat your problems, but you can expect comfortable experiences with less pains.
Aside from the pruners, this company also sells other products such as knives, saws, loppers, shears, and other cutting tools.
Fiskars
Fiskars is a part of a big group, and it was founded in 1649. They have produced and designed their products with unique craftsmanship and attention to detail.
Okatsune
Okatsune is the top gardening tool brand and the leading manufacturer in Japan. The Okatsune shears are very sharp because they are forged from the best Izumo Yasugi Steel. The company deals in different high-quality products such as shears, snips, scissors, secateurs, and other accessories.
FAQs
Does gardening make arthritis worse?
If you are careful, gardening won't make your arthritis worse. The key is to keep your garden in your easy reach. Below are some ideas for people with arthritis hands:
If you want to avoid bending and stooping to work, it's better to build your garden to a high level, bringing it closer to you. Some useful ways include planting tables, containers, and raised beds. This way can minimize the stress on your knees when weeding and digging.
It's better to invest in joint-friendly tools such as long-handled tools and easy-to-grip hand tools. You can add attachments to lengthen tool handles. It allows you to stand without stooping.
Try to keep your correct posture while gardening:
If possible, use your bigger and stronger joints instead of small parts. For instance, try to use the flat palm of your hand, elbows, and forearms in place of your little fingers.
Keep all essential gardening items close to you while working.
Sit or stand straight while working, especially, you had better change your positions regularly.
Don't forget to stop and take a break often.
Which is better: bypass or anvil pruners?
Anvil pruners work similarly to a knife, which might crush the soft tissues of your plants. Meanwhile, bypass pruners work as a pair of scissors, which can cut correctly without damaging to your plants.
Thus, I only recommend anvil pruners for cutting up your old deadwood.
Are pruners the same as secateurs?
Does pruning stimulate growth?
Yes, pruning stimulates growth. Specifically, it affects the direction that your plants will grow. That means that pruning will stop the growth in a direction to stimulate it in another.
After pruning the diseased, dead, and pest-ridden branches, your trees and shrubs will be healthier.
Conclusion
Don’t let a pair of arthritic hands lose your interest in gardening. The best pruners for arthritic hands can help you complete your tasks without leaving any pain point.
Harry RamosI’m Harry Ramos, who's crazy about all things green. I’m here to share some experience in my gardening adventure and how to choose the best products for your garden. Let's dig in, get our hands dirty, and celebrate the simple, earthy pleasures of the garden together!
