These 5 Home Depot Products Will Save Your Back






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If you’ve never experienced back pain, consider yourself lucky — and keep lifting with those legs! According to the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, back pain ranks among the costliest medical conditions in the U.S., and about 16 million adults experience chronic pain in their backs that limits everyday activities. It’s also a leading cause of disability and absence from work. Anyone can experience back pain at any age, but it’s most common in women and those between 50 and 55 years of age.

We’re not here to offer medical advice, though we can give you tips on shoveling snow more efficiently. You should always talk to your doctor if you need clinical guidance. However, we can help you find household products that may assist you if you suffer from back pain or that may help protect your back from injury in the first place. Home Depot sells thousands of products both in-store and online, from building materials and appliances to garden supplies and, of course, tools. The following products are useful for many consumers, not just those who suffer from back pain, and they can help you get the job done without the aches and grimaces that may well remind you that you were born in a year that started with 19!

Ergonomic secondary handle

You may already own an ergonomic or a battle-ready electric snow shovel, but this 18-inch handle is an attachment you can add to any shovel, spade, or even a broom to help reduce back strain and fatigue. The handle, which Home Depot advertises as attaching in less than one second without any tools, gives users a second handhold. It will allow you to maintain an upright stance, reducing strain on your lower back and helping to distribute the weight.

This tool will do more than make shoveling snow easier. Priced at $29.99 for a pack of two at the time of writing, it can be used on virtually anything that has a long handle, even rakes and mops, provided the shaft is approximately one-and-a-half inches in diameter. It was designed for comfortable gripping and can be used in temperatures from -31 degrees Fahrenheit to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s easy to disconnect and can be stored anywhere, including hanging storage. Home Depot has a standard 90-day return policy for most merchandise.

Rolling garden cart with seat

Gardeners know the best dirt, or so the saying goes, and while there are plenty of high-tech tools for this classic pastime, you may want to consider a more low-tech solution if your back aches after hours spent bent over your petunias. This inexpensive garden cart is wheeled and lightweight for easy portability. It offers a tool tray underneath the seat so that you don’t have to carry your gardening gloves and small tools. It’s made from heavy-duty plastic with a stainless steel frame and can support up to 200 pounds.

Not only does this cart allow you to tote your tools around, but it also acts like a seat or stool while you’re planting and weeding. It can also be used for other household jobs, such as painting or even automobile repair. Buyers should note that according to the product’s Q&A section, its height is not adjustable, and the wheels do not lock in place. Some reviewers reported issues with durability. If you’re willing to spend a bit more, this steel garden cart is more durable and has a seat with 360-degree swivel motion.

Stair climbing hand truck

A hand truck or dolly is a useful tool if you frequently move large boxes, appliances, or furniture. These tools are intended to literally lighten the load and reduce the manual effort needed for big jobs, easing the strain on the user’s body, including their back. If you have a big moving job and you’re worried about potential injuries, although back-saving tools for older DIYers can help, you may want more than just a simple hand truck. Try taking it one step further and pick up this stair climber hand truck, currently priced at $101.99.

Users typically have to pull a standard hand truck up or down stairs, but this product has a tri-wheel design that is intended to reduce back strain when pulling it over curbs, up stairs, and even on uneven surfaces. Its steel frame can carry up to 154 pounds, and it works on both hard surfaces and carpet. It’s also collapsible for easy storage. This hand truck can be used for more than big moves — one reviewer uses it to move water jugs and when repositioning their portable air conditioner. You could use it to move your trash cans, haul your groceries, or even carry your laundry from one floor to another.

DeWalt backpack sprayer

Lawn care can be a time-consuming process that can also wreak havoc on your back. Repetitive movement, kneeling or hunching over for prolonged periods, and carrying heavy loads can cause muscle fatigue. This DeWalt four-gallon backpack sprayer can help relieve some of those issues. It features what Home Depot describes as a “deluxe harness” with padded shoulder straps that follow the contours of your body. It also has an adjustable hip harness that helps to distribute the weight of a full sprayer.

This sprayer comes with multiple nozzle tips, and the extras can be stored in the belt so you can switch out mid-job. The pump can reach up to 150 psi, allowing users to spray from a distance, and the controls are made to be handled while you’re wearing work gloves. The product has a three-year limited warranty and gets mixed reviews from Home Depot customers. Some found the sprayer tended to leak and was difficult to put together, while others were pleased with both assembly and product performance. It currently retails for $109. Owners have a lot to say about DeWalt’s 20V backpack sprayer, so if you need a heavier-duty option, you might want to check it out. It’s also available at Home Depot.

Magnetic grabber reacher tool

You may have a toolbox full of interesting gadgets, but a reacher tool probably isn’t on your radar unless you’ve borrowed your kid’s toy version — the one with the ridiculous shark head that can barely hold a piece of paper. This grabber tool at Home Depot has a 360-degree rotating “jaw” with anti-slip grabbers and a built-in magnet that allows users to grab what they need from almost any angle. It’s able to support up to two pounds horizontally and five pounds vertically and is designed for those with limited mobility. It weighs only 8.15 ounces and is almost 17 inches long with a soft handle that is easy to grip.

This multi-use tool is perfect for grabbing something off a high shelf, avoiding stepladders, or retrieving items from low, dark spaces — haven’t we all dropped our phones into the depths of the couch at least once? It can even be used in daily household chores, like taking laundry out of the washer or dryer without straining your back. The magnetic feature can be handy for grabbing your keys or anything metal, and you can even use this tool to simply turn handles or open cabinets. This grabber has a compact design and folds for easy storage, and is priced at about $48 at the time of writing.





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ZDNET’s key takeaways

  • Amazon is reportedly developing a new Fire Phone.
  • The previous model had several issues, including an inferior app store experience.
  • Under new supervision (and with more experience), Amazon can do better this time.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I certainly didn’t have “new Amazon smartphone” on my 2026 bingo card. As it turns out, according to Reuters, the retailer may be developing a new smartphone, internally known as “Transformer.” 

Those familiar with the industry will instantly draw parallels to Amazon’s previous smartphone effort, the Fire Phone from 2014. Appropriately, that phone ended up as part of a fire sale about a year later.

Now, in 2026, with no fewer than five phone brands in the US — Apple, Samsung, Google, Motorola, and OnePlus — Amazon faces a lot of competition. In fairness, it also has two fewer platforms to compete against. In 2014, Windows Phone and BlackBerry were still very much part of the smartphone conversation; these days, not so much.

The AppStore problem

But there’s one mistake Amazon made in its first effort that will absolutely torpedo its chances at succeeding — the Amazon AppStore and specifically the decision to forego Google Play services. Google is simply too valuable in too many lives to not support the platform. Oh, and the Amazon AppStore is terrible.

Also: What’s right (and wrong) with the Amazon Fire Phone

It has admittedly been a few years since I last inventoried the Amazon AppStore, but when I last checked, the Amazon AppStore was a wasteland of half-supported or unsupported apps, with two notable exceptions. Finance, home control, and communication apps were either absent or had not received updates for years prior.

The only apps in the Amazon AppStore that remained up to date were productivity apps (largely powered by Microsoft) and streaming apps. Those two categories work very well on the cheap, underpowered hardware that Amazon usually launches, and that’s fine. A coffee-table tablet is a nice thing to have lying around.

A spark of hope

Amazon Fire Phone

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But a phone is another animal entirely. If a tablet is a device to entertain, a phone is a device for everything else. One of the key reasons Windows Phone failed was its lack of an app ecosystem. The Senior Vice President of Devices and Services,  Panos Panay, is very familiar with that saga, so I’m hopeful that he will make the same arguments to the powers that be at Amazon. 

Honestly, if there is anyone who I think can pull off an Amazon phone revival, it’s probably Panay, who understands design and product development better than most, and to be perfectly honest, he’s my absolute favorite product presenter.

Also: Amazon Fire Phone review: Not a great smartphone

Of course, all of this is early days. This phone is being worked on internally, and even Reuters reports that it could get the axe long before it sees the light of day. Personally, I’m intrigued by the idea, but I sincerely hope that Amazon doesn’t make this the shopping phone it tried to build in 2014. 

If Amazon just wants to make a nice, well-built smartphone, with a skin that pushes Amazon content to the fore, I’m fine with that. But leaving Google behind is a mistake that Amazon cannot afford to make again. Fool me once, and all that.

So, if this phone is to have a chance at success, it needs to embrace Google services so it can be a phone that everyone can use. Amazon has the brand power to make a phone like this work, even up against juggernauts like Apple and Samsung, but it needs to approach this correctly, lest it end up in yet another Fire phone fire sale.





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