Health Tip: Protect Your Hands While Gardening

(HealthDay News) — Digging and weeding can pose dangers for your hands, so use caution while working in your garden.

The American Society for Surgery of the Hand suggests these precautions:

Wear a pair of leather gloves to protect hands from bites, scratches, blisters, poison ivy, chemicals, fertilizers, bacteria and sunburn.
Perform a different task every 15 minutes to avoid repetitive use of the same muscles. Such tasks include: raking, digging, planting, trimming or pruning.
Use a small hand shovel to dig, to avoid cuts from buried debris.
Make sure any sharp tool has a safety lock. Only use such as tool as intended.
Practice proper body posture. And make sure your wrists are relaxed and straight (not bent) for maximum strength.
Avoid tools with grooves on the handles that are meant to improve grip. If such tools don’t fit your hand, they can lead to soreness and calluses.