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Bad knees
Lou12
Posts: 1,149
I have inherited osteoarthritis from my mother and it started at a very young age. Although I can manage most garden tasks like digging and so on I am having real problems kneeling to do anything.
I can't afford to put in raised beds all over although I am getting a raised bed in the front garden.
Has anyoen found any kneelers that are really good and work to keep the pressure off the knees. Standard kneelers are not doing it for me.
I'm very active and plan to walk the whole South Downs way this year but kneeling is not happening!
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also in the bad knee club. If I need to kneel , I like Brenda, use a dense cushion on top of the kneeler, but I still can't do a lot of it.
I too have osteoarthritis and have had one knee replaced (which has been a complete success but with a very slow recovery). The strapon kneepads builders use are quite good but no fashion statement. If you look in DIY shops you can check out the range and maybe even try them out. There are different types; the ones I have are made by DeWalt.
Walking the South Downs Way...now that is an achievement with or without bad knees. I couldn't do it but my husband walked Eastbourne to Findon one year.....then his knees got bad.
I use thick knee pads - Bosman I think - and they allow me to kneel for a few minutes at a time. I use them in combination with a kneeler, but use it purely to help me get up and down, I don't actually kneel on it (if that makes sense).
For me, the pads combined with the natural 'give' in the ground is the most comfortable way. Or least uncomfortable.
The other problem I'm starting to find, is that bending in all sorts of odd ways to protect the knees is creating problems with one of my hips
Thanks very much everyone, I didn't I'd be alone in this. I will definitely try my thick memory foam pillow in a bin bag plys strap on kneelers. Nobody can see into my garden so I don't care what I look like
Walking is very rarely a problem as long as I don't put too much weight on but kneeling is a no no also sitting with legs up on a stool with knees unsupported - they get fixed in position.
It makes me laugh some days at work, sometimes my patients say that they are ashamed to ask me to put their sock back on for them and I reply don't worry about it, I had to get my husband to put my socks on this morning
So I only kneel when he is around.
'Hard work never killed anyone, but it turned them into gey queer shapes!'
as a Geordie its geet queer shapes
You should all avoid kneeling altogether - it is very bad for your knees and your back! (Trust me - I'm a trained 'moving and handling' back care advisor). Get yourself a sit on tool box with wheels so you can take the weight through your bottom (which was designed for the job) and lean forwards and to the sides a bit to do your weeding, planting, pruning etc. When you need to reach a bit further to the sides you stay sitting and just use your legs to push yourself along. This also saves wear and tear on your knees by avoiding the need to keep standing up and getting down again.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Garden-Wheel-Mounted-Storage/dp/B00BEHM1LO And you can keep all your small tools with you all the time. No need to keep going back to the shed for something you've forgotten.Thank you, I live on it so I don't have far to go to hit the trail
I also have three slipped discs and osteoarthritis in the whole lower vertebrae which were noted on x-ray but funnily enough they rarely bother me at all and I dig quite happily.
Fair comment Brenda but I would still highly recommend them for those that can sit on them and for those that want to avoid getting knee and back problems in the future. For me, kneeling and leaning forward is an absolute No No!