These 12 Milwaukee Products Will Save Your Back

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Construction work, garage work, DIY projects, and home renovations can be grueling work, sweat-inducing work, so-called back-breaking work. Whether you're spending a long time in the workshop or just a few minutes here and there, it's important to protect your body from injuries and wear and tear. Your body can't be replaced as easily as your tools can. With that in mind, we've identified twelve Milwaukee products that could lessen the load on your back.

We can't make any guarantees about any specific product, but using the right tool and wearing the right gear could reduce the strain on your body and minimize the risk of injuries. The amount of impact depends on several factors, including how much time you spend in the garage or workshop, the type of work you're doing, the materials you're working with, the kinds of tools you're using, your level of experience, your age, any existing injuries or underlying conditions, and more. Your mileage may vary.

You've heard the old wisdom that it's better to work smarter, not harder. To that end, each of these products is designed to reduce the amount of work required to complete a job, distribute weight more evenly across your body, or prevent you from getting into precarious, potentially injury-inducing positions.

Your average power drill is intended for drilling through things like wood and drywall, materials that don't put up too much of a fight. If you're drilling through denser materials like concrete, rock, or brick, a normal drill will struggle. If you don't have the right tool for the job, you could end up straining your drill and your back at the same time. A hammer drill rotates like any other drill, but it also introduces a forward hammering motion to more easily punch through dense materials with less effort.

Milwaukee's M18 Fuel 1/2 inch Hammer Drill is billed as the most compact hammer drill option in its class, at just 6.9 inches long. It's part of Milwaukee's One-Key connectivity platform, which lets you track your tools remotely, disable them if they're lost or stolen, manage your tool inventory, and more.

It features an AutoStop Control Mode, which prevents over-rotation during a bind-up. The drill also has an AutoStop light on the foot, which lights up to let you know an AutoStop protection event has occurred. The drill also comes with an auxiliary side handle for added grip while hammer drilling and a belt clip so you can transport the tool around the workshop hands-free.

There are plenty of safety concerns in any garage or workshop. Power tools require eye protection to block fast-moving debris, grease and grime can make floors slippery, and heavy loads threaten to overtax your body. It's important to lift with your legs, not with your back, but it's even more important to know your limits. If you're moving heavy loads, a lever hoist can make it safer and easier than moving the same load by other methods.

A lever hoist is a form of chain hoist, also known as a differential pulley. It multiplies your mechanical effort dozens of times over, allowing you to lift much heavier loads than would otherwise be possible. For instance, with the help of Milwaukee's 3/4 Ton Lever Hoist, it takes only 33 pounds of force on the lever to lift the hoist's 3/4-ton maximum load.

Hoists work under the same principles that elevators use, and you can get them in different capacities. There's the aforementioned 3/4-ton hoist and more robust counterparts with capacities of several tons. To move your load, attach the hook and set the directional lever to either "LOAD" (up) or "UNLOAD" (down), then move the lever up and down repeatedly. If you want to save yourself even more effort, there are powered electric chain hoists, which do the work for you.

Driving nails is one of the most common activities in any construction project. Whether you're building a piece of furniture, laying a deck, or building an entire house, it's going to take a lot of nails. Driving them all manually takes a lot of energy and might have you kneeling or crouching for extended periods. That's without even mentioning the risk of smashing your fingers. A nail gun uses electrical power, gas, or a combination of both to drive hundreds or thousands of nails with minimal effort.

Milwaukee's M18 Fuel 30 Degree Framing Nailer comes in a kit with a single REDLITHIUM battery, an M18 and M12 multi-voltage charger, a hook, a non-marring tip, and a tool bag. It uses a combination of battery power and gas to rapidly drive nails. Unlike other gas-powered or gas-assisted nailers, this one uses compressed nitrogen in a sealed compartment, so you never have to buy replacement gas cartridges. The so-called nitrogen spring mechanism gives you pneumatic performance in a cordless package. And the whole thing weighs just 11 pounds, including the battery, so you can go on nailing as long as you need to.

Breaking up concrete, large rocks, and other dense materials can be backbreaking work. A breaker, otherwise known as a jackhammer, gives you added power to more easily break dense materials into smaller pieces. The MX Fuel Breaker from Milwaukee is the lightest in its class, at 64 pounds, so it's easier to use and carry around the job site.

It comes in a kit with a REDLITHIUM battery pack, a battery charger, a cart, and three chisels. It has built-in vibration reduction technology and can break over two tons of material on a single charge. For instance, Milwaukee says it can break up a concrete area one foot wide, six inches deep, and 40 feet long before the battery runs out.

This jackhammer delivers 50 ft-lbs of impact energy and 1,300 blows per minute (BPM). It's also compatible with Milwaukee's One-Key connectivity platform, so you can track your tools, lock them out if they go missing, and manage your inventory from a cell phone, tablet, or computer.

If you're cleaning up fallen leaves or other debris, a blower is much more efficient than a rake. Even better is a backpack blower, which distributes the weight of your tool over a greater area, reducing the strain on any one body part.

Milwaukee's MX Fuel Backpack Blower is compatible with Milwaukee's MX Fuel REDLITHIUM batteries and gives you between 20 and 45 minutes of power per charge, depending on the power level you choose. For longer jobs, having extra batteries on hand can help minimize downtime and keep work moving without interruption. This backpack blower features a fully adjustable harness, a mode select interface with a variable speed trigger, a telescoping nozzle, and an adjustable handle position; you can customize the layout to fit the user.

The MX Fuel Backpack Blower delivers powerful blowing force so you can blow heavier debris or more debris in a single swipe. It's also compatible with Milwaukee's One-Key connectivity platform, which you can use to set the power mode, track usage and location, manage inventory, and lock the tool if it's lost or stolen. And if you really want to up your game, there's an optional hip belt with padding and adjustable straps for additional support and comfort.

Lawn maintenance is usually semi-manual work. You pull weeds by hand, you walk along the perimeter of your yard with an edger, and you push the mower back and forth, sometimes uphill and over uneven terrain. A self-propelled mower like the M18 Fuel 21 in. Self-Propelled Dual Battery Mower creates its own forward motion, so all you have to do is hold on and steer.

It runs on any two M18 REDLITHIUM batteries, and runtime depends on the type of batteries you choose. If you use the recommended M18 REDLITHIUM FORGE HD12.0 batteries, you can get up to an hour of mowing time when cutting an inch of grass while moving at 3 mph. The mower provides up to 10 ft-lbs of torque to move between 0 and 4 mph, and you can control the speed using the Active Speed Management Paddles.

Front and side lights give you 180 degrees of visibility in low lighting conditions, and a battery fuel gauge lets you know how much charge you have left. The mower comes with a mulch plug, grass bag, and rear side discharge chute, and it folds in half for vertical storage when not in use.

A work belt lets you carry a selection of your most commonly used tools on your waist for easy access. It goes around your midsection to distribute the weight across your hips and reduce strain and fatigue. Milwaukee's Contractor Work Belt with Suspension Rig features 24 organizational pockets to store your most commonly used tools, accessories, and items. It even has puncture-resistant pockets for storing saw blades, fasteners, and other sharp objects.

The work belt weighs just 5.4 pounds, and it has shoulder suspenders, which help to distribute the weight even further. The harness also has an extra pocket for storing your smartphone. The belt and harness are made of 1680D Nylon with riveted seams and metal hardware to make them as durable as possible.

It's padded and breathable, it has handles so you can easily remove the belt and put it back on again as needed, and it fits waists between 30 and 53 inches in diameter with its adjustable straps.

Inspection cameras are great for getting inside walls, pipes, and other narrow spaces, but they can also be used in other ways. For instance, if you need to see under a car or into a crawl space, you can send a camera into the fray instead of crawling under there yourself.

The M12 M-Spector 360 10-foot Inspection Camera from Milwaukee features a 4.3-inch LCD screen with a 720p 10mm camera. The 10-foot camera cable is semi-rigid and flexible, so it can more easily get into walls and pipes. Photos and videos are stored on an included 32GB SD card, so you can watch them on your computer or share them easily. There are three levels of zoom, five brightness modes, and you can rotate the image 360 degrees either with a button push or by physically rotating the screen.

The inspection camera comes in a kit with one M12 REDLITHIUM CP2.0 battery, an M12 battery charger, and a carrying bag. It also has a few accessories, including a plumbing ball, hook, mirror, and magnet. That way, you can not only look inside the walls and other hard-to-reach places, you can also use the magnet or hook to grab onto lost items and retrieve them without tearing a huge hole in your drywall.

The two-wheel cart, otherwise known as a dolly, is perhaps one of the most famous and universally used back-saving devices in existence. They come with different bells and whistles, but they all do more or less the same thing: helping you move heavy loads across short distances.

The PACKOUT 2-Wheel Cart allows you to carry loads up to 400 pounds and is designed with Milwaukee's PACKOUT modular storage products in mind. It features integrated PACKOUT mounting in multiple locations, so you can stack or hang your other PACKOUT storage products.

The 2-Wheel Cart features 10-inch flat-free wheels, so you don't need to worry about accidentally rolling over a screw, getting a flat, and losing mobility. It also has an adjustable base plate, which allows it to fold down to nearly flat, so it takes up less space during transport and storage. Whether you're moving materials around the job site, cleaning out the garage, or helping a friend move, a good dolly lightens the load and makes it easier to move heavy and bulky objects.

A tool box is one of the most common objects at any work site, workshop, or garage. Instead of carting your tools from one place to another by hand, a tool box gives you a centralized location to keep everything you need. A rolling tool box goes one step further by increasing mobility, so you can transport tools with ease.

Milwaukee's PACKOUT Rolling Tool Box can carry up to 250 pounds of tools, has a collapsible handle, and 9-inch all-terrain wheels. It features an impact-resistant polymer case and metal-reinforced corners, so it can stand up to a beating.

The entire package is 43 inches tall with the handle extended, making it easier to transport, and only 19.75 inches tall when collapsed, so it takes up less space in your garage or the back of your truck. An IP65 weather seal protects your tool box's contents from the elements, an interior organizer tray keeps your tools sorted and stored, so you know where to find them, and heavy-duty latches keep your tool box securely fastened. It's also compatible with Milwaukee's other PACKOUT storage products, so you can stack several boxes and roll them around together.

Large construction projects often call for cutting rebar, concrete, or metal pipes. One common way of doing that is with a cut-off saw, also known as an abrasive saw or a chop saw. It's a circular saw used to cut metals, tile, concrete, and other hard materials. Carrying a cut-off saw and making cuts by hand can be grueling and inaccurate. Milwaukee's Cut-Off Saw Cart allows you to make long, straight cuts in dense materials with greater accuracy and less effort.

The Cut-Off Saw Cart is compatible with Milwaukee's MX Fuel 14-inch Cut-Off Saw, which features an adjustable blade, so you can make cuts at different depths. By putting the saw on a cart, you can reduce the strain on your back and body, but that's not all. The cart also has a guide arm to line up with chalk markings and other cut path guide lines, so you can be sure to keep your cuts right where they're supposed to be. It also has an M18 SWITCH TANK four-gallon water supply kit, so you can use the cut-off saw for wet cutting. The cart kit also comes with one M18 REDLITHIUM XC Extended Capacity Battery and an M18 and M12 Multi-Voltage Charger.

When pouring wet concrete, thousands of bubbles can get trapped in the mixture. When there are lots of air bubbles, it results in something called honeycombing, cavities that can compromise the strength of the final product. Concrete workers often use concrete vibrators to shake the air out of the mixture and help the concrete level more evenly.

There are multiple types of concrete vibrators with different benefits and limitations. There are surface vibrators, which don't reach more than about half a foot into the mixture but can make the surface of your concrete pour especially smooth. There are form vibrators, which are placed around the perimeter, attaching to the form itself. But the most common type of concrete vibrator is the internal vibrator like the MX Fuel Concrete Vibrator.

Using an internal vibrator, concrete workers walk around or through a concrete pour while inserting and slowly removing the vibrator. This process releases bubbles and results in a more level and robust final product once the concrete dries. Milwaukee's Backpack Harness is compatible with the MX Fuel Concrete Vibrator. It has fully adjustable straps made of breathable polyester and extra padding in the shoulders, lower back, waist, and chest straps, so you can better distribute weight and more easily carry the load during long jobs.

Some of these products, like the hip belt for Milwaukee's backpack blower, the work belt with suspension rig, and the backpack harness for the MX Fuel Concrete Vibrator, are designed specifically to reduce the risk of back injury. Others significantly reduce the amount of effort you have to expend, or how much of your back you have to put into a task, like the self-propelled lawn mower or the 3/4-ton lever hoist.

When used correctly, each item on this list has the potential to reduce the probability that you'll strain or injure your back. Of course, safety in the workshop, garage, or work site is about more than just having the right tools. It's about using those tools appropriately and maintaining them, it's about wearing the appropriate safety gear and following safety protocols, and it's about knowing your limits and not pushing yourself too far. Even if you do all that, there are countless variables impacting whether a person has back trouble. Genetics play a role, as does your fitness level, any previous injuries you've had, and plain old luck.

We can't make any medical claims or guarantees, but each of these Milwaukee products could potentially help you avoid worsening back injuries. Your mileage may vary.