Sep 28, 2013

Long Handle Brooms

What's so special about long handle brooms ? Apart from being easy to use and less damaging to the user's back muscles, they are not commonly seen in South Asia. Most of the brooms I've seen in India and Bangladesh have short handle. The problem with this kind of broom is that, the sweeper has to crouch or bend down low to sweep. The long handle version on the other hand allows one to sweep the floor without bending down. Being able to use both hands allows one to leverage more force and a wider range of motions as well. In Sri Lanka however, the long handle brooms were common. It could be the topic of an interesting sociological research to find out what influenced the adaptation or retention of short/long handle brooms in certain countries in the area while neighbors were shifting towards a different sweeping technology.
Long handle brooms being sold in Negombo