Elaine, I might look into those muscle relaxants just for the side effect. I'd kill to get 12 hours of sleep. I haven't been able to get more than 4 or 5 hours for the last month. The ball wouldn't work for me. Most of my weeds are growing between bushes (most of which are thorny roses), where there isn't even enough room for a kneeling pad. I mostly have to stand, sometimes on only one foot, and bend way over to reach the weeds, or crouch down and reach through the bushes to get the weeds. You'd be amazed how often my hair gets combed by rose thorns while I'm getting back up.
Seedfork, sounds like you know what you're doing. You seem to have tried everything and discarded the bad solutions.
Cheryl, it's funny you'd mention raking because I did lots and lots of raking the day before my worst episode. Ibuprofen's my drug of choice too.
Woofie, the scoot won't work any better than Elaine's ball for me for weeding because of the spaces where my weeds are located, but it could be good for other tasks, such as deadheading the roses, or pruning small shrubs. Thanks for the link.
