Aids to daily living

NigelRL

Having needed hip replacement just prior to lockdown and surgeons now unwilling to operate due to wounds on t'other leg my range of movement is rubicubes. Having been a care worker with many different categories I'm used to doing care plans so I did one on me.

Biggest need how to carry on independent living, I'm married but wife unable to help.

Best aids.

Really long shoe horn as in waist high, no bending where I can't bend and putting on shoes taking ages filled with OWS. It also has hook on other end, off come socks nae dragging foot or standing on sock end and pull.

Sock aid simple but it so works.

Grabbers in most rooms

My hip makes knee so sore and at last I found a good knee support that works.

Going away a blow up cushion to make chairs right height and best of all a toilet seat raiser as is it me or are most public toilets at kiddies heights. Lowering and raising is so sore and at worst of times almost impossible.

Automatic car.

There are others but what do others use that could also help others. Even simple things like lower foldable step that's great if doorstep feels like stepping into grand canyon

MarkInSussex

I use a few different things, a sock aid being one of them, such a simple idea, but so, so useful, other things i use are a small bag i hang round my neck that I use to carry things in (i walk with crutches, so can't carry anything in my hands and wheeled trolleys are a no no), toilet seat raiser is an absolute must at the moment, soft Physio cushions on the dining room chairs, but i really enjoy coming up with solutions to my problems, i can't get on with litter picking type helping hands as i use crutches and also have Arthritis in my hands, so i came up with my helping stick.

All it is is a simple stick that was cut from a Hazel tree in the garden, to which i've drilled a hole that has a loop of nylon running through it that can be used to lasso things i've dropped or that can be grabbed this way off of a shelf etc, the other end has a small brass hook for picking things up and a small magnet glued onto the end, the stick can also be used to lift things up like a t-shirt that i might have dropped by putting the stik under it and lifting, its also useful for taking socks off by putting the stick inside the sock and pulling my foot out, i guess its uses are only limited by the person using it.

It's not pretty, but it works for me, i explained this tool to the OT's when i was in hospital and they asked to see it, so my family bought it in for me and the OT's were amazed, it also keeps my brain going by thinking of, designing them making things to help me in my situation.

As the old saying goes, "necessity is the mother of invention".

Baloo

That's cool. I like the helping stick. The helping stick looks fairly easy to make.

I use a long shoehorn to lever my compression sox off my heels. Those sox are impossible for one person to fit. I takes two of us to get them on.

The adjustable spanner I sellotaped onto the hooked end of the long shoehorn gets in the way a bit, but I'm using spanner at the moment to reach under the airing cupboard and turn off the water stop tap.

stickywicket

Some good ideas here, guys. Does arthritis make us more inventive?

Versus Arthritis has an excellent page on this topic https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/living-with-arthritis/your-home/

My latest 'find' is the grips for cricket bat handles. They are cheap, cut easily to any size and make it possible for me to hang on to :

My lightweight wooden stick

My favourite kitchen knife

My long-handled comb

My saucepan

Trish9556

Before I had my shoulder surgery I was unable to apply cream to the back if my shoulder. So, this is what I did.

Buy one of those washing up brushes that lets you out the liquid inside the handle. Cut off the scourer green bit and hey presto, put your cream on the sponge and rub in those awkward places.

You can buy replacement sponges, the sponge doesn't eat up all the cream as soon as you put it on either. Neither is it expensive to buy.

Love n hugs Trish xx