Aids to support everyday tasks

Aids are available for many areas of daily living in order to make it easier for patients to cope with the challenges of everyday life. Using these aids can help patients to regain more independence and make it easier for them to participate in family and social life. Many of these aids are designed to be used with one hand, making it possible to do activities that can otherwise only be done with two hands.

Cooking and eating

Spasticity sufferers can find it hard to feed themselves. Various aids in and around the kitchen mean that they can carry out simple tasks themselves again.

Breadboard

The breadboard has a special bracket that secures the bread so that it cannot slip. This enables the bread to be cut with one hand.

Raised-edge plate

The raised-edge plate helps patients to push food onto a spoon or a fork using just one hand. It can easily be fixed to a plate. Alternatively a soup plate can be raised with a base attachment.

Single-hand decapper

The larger surface of the single-hand decapper provides more grip area and makes it easier to open a bottle, even with limited dexterity.

Cutting boards with vegetable holder

These special cutting boards can be fixed to the kitchen work surface with suction pads or clamps. Small metal tips make it easy to secure vegetables to the board so that they can be peeled or cut with one hand.

Single-hand chopping board

The single-hand chopping board has special brackets that are used to hook it to the edge of the table. It will therefore not slip when buttering bread for instance.

Adapted cutlery

The use of adapted cutlery that can, if desired, be bent back behind the handle, makes it easier to use the hand to eat.

Personal hygiene and dressing

Restricted mobility, misalignments or limited fine motor skills can make personal hygiene and dressing difficult. In this area too there are a number of different aids to help patients be more independent.

Brushes and bath sponges

Attachments or long handles fixed to the sponge make it possible to wash hard-to-reach areas such as the legs or back with one hand.

Button hook

Button hooks make buttoning and unbuttoning as well as zipping and unzipping easier. It is therefore possible to do this with one hand or very limited dexterity.

Shoe horn

A long shoe horn helps those with limited mobility to put their shoes on.

Everyday skills

Limited mobility in spasticity patients can make it hard to pick up objects from the floor or unlock doors. Various aids can make gripping easier.

Gripper

There are various types of gripper. They make it possible to pick up objects from the floor or table.

Key holders

A cover that can be pulled over the key makes it easier to grip the key and turn it in the lock.

Communication

Limited motor skills can make it difficult to use a telephone or computer and restrict everyday communication. There is a variety of different aids to help people use these appliances again and so increase their levels of social interaction.

Large-button telephone

Large buttons make it easier to use the telephone.

Mouse replacement devices

Trackball mouses for example can make it easier to use the computer and replace the standard mouse. They enable the computer to be used with just one finger and so avoid unintentional keystrokes.