Hedge trimming can be laborious work. Stihl and Shindiawa 2-stroke hedge trimmers are marvelous inventions but use them for any length of time, particularly on wide hedges, and you will quickly learn how heavy they are.
Treetools has many customers who trim hedges for a living (they love our aluminum Allite orchard ladders) and whenever one visits the shop, the discussion always turns to the weight of petrol powered hedge trimmers and possible solutions to the problem.
During the week, while researching another product, we came across the GTM 'Elephant Trunk Harness'. GTM specialize in supplying garden and park maintenance equipment. The Elephants Trunk Harness is a strange looking beast but certainly worth looking at if you trim a lot of hedges.
.