Arthritis-friendly accessories for open water swimming

jorobins

Hi!

It's coming up to Christmas and I'm thinking of gifts that I can get for my mum, who's gotten into open water swimming. I'm looking to get her some accessories, but I know she's already come across some problems with things like wetsuits due to the arthritis in her hands. In particular, she wants wetsuit gloves and a swim float.

Is there anything I should be considering when buying her the wetsuit gloves or the float? Anything that people have tried before that helped? Any extra advice on wetsuits and what has worked before would be massively helpful too! thanks!

Shell_H

Hi @jorobins - welcome to the online community!

I see you're asking about aids for swimming, specifically gloves for wetsuits and swimming floats, for people who have arthritis in their hands. I'm afraid I have very little knowledge on this myself, but I hope some of the other community members will know something!

I have found this older thread which may be of help to you:

• https://community.versusarthritis.org/discussion/54499/wet-suit-advice-for-someone-with-ra-and-oa-of-hips

And we do have some information on more general gadgets and things for around the home:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/living-with-arthritis/your-home/

Please do feel free to look around the community, and if you do find something helpful would you mind coming back and letting us know for future investigators of water aids?

Lovely to meet you!

Shell

CCM

Not gloves, but has your Mum considered having an extra zip fitted to the lower sleeves, so as to make it easier to pull the wetsuit over painful hands?