I used our son's screwdriver like dan1554 posted, and found it was comfortable to use.
My daily Rx includes a NSAID by prescription, it helps. I also have issues in the lumbar/sacral area, and some days if I'm really hurting, I just say, 'no' to doing anything. Being retired helps.
I do maintenance on several houses, and I am not averse to hiring it out if it's 'in the air.' Being a retired firefighter/paramedic, I'm used to properly using a ladder or being above the first floor. I just got a new roof on a house and I hired it out. They did a good job, and I got "wind mitigation structure improvements," that would be single strap-over fasteners for each truss to the top-of-wall poured concrete tie-beam and a secondary water barrier of adhesive stick-down sheeting. Those improvements, along with impact-rated (Miami-Dade Co. Product Approval) doors and windows are supposed to earn me a big % reduction in my wind-only insurance premium. I didn't do anything but function as a sidewalk superintendent.
One thing I recently got which I believe is helping me daily is a Teeter inversion table. When I get up in the a.m., I put on the coffee and I spend some time like a bat, hanging upside down. I do a bit of sit-ups getting roughly parallel with the floor from my pelvis-up. The amount of time I'm varying my position from normal upright positioning on the table, to parallel with the ground/floor, to being head-down/feet-up is probably < 10 minutes. I change my position frequently, and when I get-off the table, my lumbar/sacral back feels 'looser' and gives me less pain. I've also lost 25 lbs. by dieting, and that also has helped me, that is ongoing, to lose more. We have free weights, a treadmill, a recumbent bicycle and the Teeter inversion table. They only benefit you if you use them, what I tell myself if I am thinking of skipping a day.
More compatible ergonomic-friendly tools can be a part of making things easier to accomplish, thanks to all who post their better ideas for working tools.
