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Blog, General Education, Podcast

How to Make an Arthritis Friendly Home

October 20, 2021
87 min read
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Episode 47 of the Arthritis Life Podcast is jam packed with the best home modifications and adaptations for arthritis!

Occupational therapists Lindsay DeLong and Cheryl Crow walk through every room of a home and share their best tips from the professional and patient lens.

This includes tips on dressing, cooking, going to the bathroom, bathing, accessing a home and setting up a living room when you have arthritis! 

Episode at a glance

  • Occupational therapy (OT): Why Lindsay became an OT, and Lindsay & Cheryl’s definitions of the profession. (1:00-6:00)
  • Things to think about when accessing a home when you have arthritis: steps, ramps and more, plus tips on aging in place.  (6:00-14:29)
  • Tips for the Bathroom with Arthritis: wiping, bidets, toilet seat height, grab bars, shower gadgets, drying hair and more.  (14:30 – 30:25)
  • Tips for the Kitchen with Arthritis: opening aids, considerations for how you organize items within the kitchen, refrigerator design considerations, kitchen design tips, stools, fatigue mats and chopping aids.  (30:30 – 51:00)
  • Tips for the Bedroom and Dressing with Arthritis: power assist beds, bed rails, pivot grabs, bed ladders, dressing sticks, dressing aids, bras, and more. (51:17-1:01:00)
  • Tips for Living Rooms and Dining Rooms with Arthritis: recliners, arm rests for chairs, round versus square tables and more. (1:01:00 – 1:07:45)
  • The emotional side of adaptive equipment: Tips for coping with shame and other emotions around needing adaptive equipment or assistive devices (1:07:48 – 1:17:09)

For a full list of links to everything Lindsay discussed in this episode, go to this special page of her website here https://www.equipmeot.com/arthritislife/.

Check out Cheryl’s “Favorite Arthritis Items” page for links to some of the things she discussed on this episode: https://arthritis.theenthusiasticlife.com/2020/03/17/my-favorite-arthritis-products/

Speaker Bios:

Lindsay DeLong: As an occupational therapist, I have spent years treating and supporting individuals dealing with all forms of arthritis. I have been challenged to find creative solutions for individuals to help them maintain their independence, self worth and joy in every day life! I’ve learned so much from the arthritis community and am thrilled for the opportunity to give back in any way I can.

Cheryl Crow is an occupational therapist who has lived with rheumatoid arthritis for seventeen years. She’s passionate about helping others with rheumatoid arthritis live a full life, by using effective tools to manage physical, emotional and social challenges. She formed the educational company Arthritis Life in 2019 after seeing a huge need for more engaging, accessible, and (dare she say) FUN patient education and self-management resources.

Episode Sponsor

This episode is brought to you by Rheum to THRIVE, a 6-month education and support program Cheryl created to help people with rheumatic disease go from overwhelmed, confused and alone to confident, supported and connected.  Join the waitlist today for the next group which starts in Spring, 2022! 

Episode links:

Medical disclaimer: 

All content found on Arthritis Life public channels was created for generalized informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Full episode transcript:

[Introductory Music]

Hi! My name is Cheryl Crow, and I am passionate about helping people navigate real life with arthritis. I’ve lived with rheumatoid arthritis for 17 years and I’m also a mom, teacher, and occupational therapist. I’m so excited to share my tricks for managing the ups and downs of life with arthritis. Everything from kitchen life hacks, and how to respond when people say, “You don’t look sick”, stress, work, sex, anxiety, fatigue, pregnancy, and parenting with chronic illness — no topic will be off limits here. I’ll also talk to other patients and share their stories and advice. Think of this as your chance to sit down and chat with a friend who’s been there. Ready to figure out how to manage your arthritis life? Let’s get started. 

00:50 Cheryl:       Hi, Lindsay. I’m so happy to have you on the Arthritis Life podcast today. Welcome!

00:55 Lindsay:     Thank you. I’m so happy to be here. It is an absolute honor.

00:59 Cheryl:       Yes. Oh, we’re honored to have you. So, you know, first of all, today, we’re gonna be talking a lot about home modifications and adaptations for people with arthritis. First of all, I would love to learn from you. Why did you become an occupational therapist? And how did you eventually specialize in this area?

01:16 Lindsay:     So, I have always loved helping people. It was in my blood. I come from a long line of health care providers, I absolutely love to be around people and helping people. And so, I was actually in school all the way up through undergrad as a pre-physical therapy, because I hadn’t even heard of occupational therapy, which is classic trope. But I found out about OT about halfway through my junior year, read into it more, and thought this fits every inch of me. Its problem solving, it’s creative, it’s really practical. And so, I fell in love with it, and I pursued it. Didn’t get into school on my first try… I know, I’m not — I was — as many of our journeys are, mine is not linear. Actually considered social work for a while and then jumped back on to OT and finally got into school. And it’s been the love of my career and life to do this, because it’s just absolutely so fun.

The pursuit of adaptation and modification also came very natural to me. My father has a long history in construction. And so, working around housing and modifying the living environment was something that came very naturally to me to have an interest in. And then the equipment itself was something that kind of came out of necessity because I was working in home health care, and working with specifically folks who were recovering from pretty significant trauma. So, auto accidents, workman’s comp cases, falls; really kind of scary stuff. And equipment was the fastest way to get people back to life.

And so, I started using it for that and then kind of realized that so many of these people were recovering from trauma, but also had pre-existing chronic conditions, and realizing that they didn’t know that this equipment existed. And so many of them said, “Boy, I wish I had had this 10 years ago, 15 years ago, when I was diagnosed, not just when I, you know, fell and shattered my hip.” But, you know, so the connection there with the chronic illness community has really flourished from that realization that so many people with chronic illness are not receiving point of service care. They wait. They don’t receive any, oftentimes, until something bad happens and that is just devastating because so many things could be prevented, so much quality of life could be maintained if you had access to this information.

And that’s where EquipMeOT was born, out of the necessity to get information out into the world more efficiently and freely. You don’t need an insurance approval to come and check out my content and hopefully get some information that can help.

03:40 Cheryl:       Yeah, absolutely. And both of our journeys are similar in the sense of like realizing how few people with these chronic conditions — like in my case, specifically inflammatory arthritis — were given some of the basic tools that we learned as occupational therapists and then harnessing the power of the Internet and social media and websites and videos to share this information.

It’s just, it’s been so much fun for me but I’m resisting the urge to go down the rabbit hole of, yeah, why aren’t people with arthritis being given this earlier? I want to focus today — I’m like, oh, my gosh, my brain is hurting trying to focus — but I really want to give the audience who is primarily people with these conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, you know, some ideas of home adaptations and home modifications. So — oh, wait, okay, I’m gonna go back for one second. What is your elevator speech for what occupational therapy is for somebody who might not have ever heard of it or doesn’t understand what it is? 

04:39 Lindsay:     Okay, you ready? This is a short one. So, occupational therapy is the focus on your life, what matters, and how you can do those things for the rest of your life. So, I say it — I kind of leave it at that. I leave it very open because I think it’s really important that OT is defined by the individuals we treat and not by the OT themselves. We are going to be defining ourselves in our treatment practice based on what it is that you need and want to do every day. And that’s it. That’s — it’s so simple, but it’s so annoying because that’s like, that’s too simple. It can’t be that easy. And it’s not. It takes a lot of science and knowledge and practice to get to the point where you can do that for folks. But that’s what we do.

05:20 Cheryl:       Yeah, I love that. I love it. If I could rename our profession, I would name us ‘life skills therapists’ because I mean, it’s really — like, this is my tagline. It’s for free, AOTA, feel free to take it. Like, ‘life skills through the lifespan’. ‘Cause it kinda says, yeah, we work on life skills, like for a baby that’s feeding, you know. For someone, you know, in hospice, you know, end of life care, it’s being able to be as comfortable as you can, whatever the life skill it is. If you have severe arthritis and you’re having a hard time with self-care, it’s being able to take a shower as independently as possible, you know. So, anyway, side-note.

05:55 Lindsay:     I love that. Life skills for the lifespan. I’m totally going to write that down. That’s beautiful.

06:01 Cheryl:       Yeah. But no, I mean, and so, yeah, so today, I — thank you for that. And I want to focus on home adaptations. And I thought it would be great to just kind of — or to walk ourselves mentally through a home or apartment or living space with the idea of how to make it arthritis friendly.

And, you know, again, my messages are usually targeted towards people with inflammatory forms, arthritis that are much, much more than just hand pain or other pain. But we — but I think we’ll primarily focus just for today on hand pain, because that is the barrier for a lot of our home things like opening doors, turning on faucets, you know, and then also touching on, you know, wrist, shoulder, or hip and knee pain. And then also we can touch on fatigue as well, because it’s all happening in the same context. But yeah, let’s just start with thinking about how to get into a home or living place itself. What are some things that you think about?

06:59 Lindsay:     So, you know, obviously, without being able to see a specific person, there are some major points that I like to talk about when it comes to egress, or the entrances and exits of a home. First things first, whether it’s an apartment, or it’s a house, or it’s a condo, or even hotels, you know, depending on your living situation, having access to a low-barrier threshold doorway is a big deal.

And I say this because whether it’s an entrance around the back of the home or side of the home, a space where you can safely enter and exit without a ton of steps is a really important concept. And I say this even if we’re only considering hand weakness and fatigue, there are a lot of factors that can impact somebody’s safety if you already have a pre-existing chronic condition like arthritis, and having at least one entrance point that has low-threshold low-barrier is really, really great.

Now, obviously, if you’re in a space that requires multiple stairs like a hotel or apartment complex, you would need an elevator. And I have been in so many situations where that’s not something that’s offered. And so, those are the situations where we talk about, okay, do you have a slider? Do you have an entrance around the back side of the home that would possibly be an alternative to having to enter through the main entrance that may have stairs up or down? Because you never know. Bad day or big flare up, and you need to be able to enter and exit that home without a lot of stairs. 

 The other thing is bilateral handrails. If you do have to use stairs, handrails on both sides. If you’ve got one side that you rely on, that’s your good side and then that side doesn’t do so well one day, having the other side to be able to grab on to. I usually like to have — a lot of times an egress point would be the garage, for example. I always include grab bars on either side of my garage entrances. Grab bar on the left grab bar on the right, because you just — you never know where you’re going to need that grabbing point. That’s a super affordable, visually not interrupting place to put a grab bar.

It’s usually the first place I can convince people to put one, is in their garage, because they don’t necessarily want them in their house yet. But in the garage is a great place. And I love a good vinyl coated grab bar versus the metallic if you live in a cool weather environment and you’re chronically suffering from stiffness and your cold joints don’t do you any favors. I apologize for that. The grab bar being vinyl coated, and this is something like Ponte Giulio, which is a brand I really, really like. They will have these and they stay much warmer to the touch, providing you a much safer, easier place to grab, and it’s just more comfortable. So, that’s another kind of fun little way to use a grab bar in the exterior egress point. 

Also, having, obviously, avoiding round handle doorknobs. If you have round handle doorknobs, adding grip to them so that they’re not so difficult to manage. Lever handles are going to be so much easier to use. I also really like push button or Bluetooth-activated locking systems so you’re not having to use keys. That’s a huge one. And if you do have to rely on keys, obviously adding the key add-ons that will give you a bigger point to grasp. And I know, Cheryl, you’ve gone over some pretty cool ones in the past. So, that’s a really great, you know, kind of quick few things to cover to make those egress points a safer solution when you’re coming and going.

10:15 Cheryl:       That’s so great. Yeah, and I think, you know, when we were looking at houses — we recently are in the process of moving. I say ‘moving’ not ‘moved’ because we are renovating our home. And yeah, we really looked at, okay, our previous home was a tri-level, which means you have to — and it had steps to just enter, and then when you go in, you’re on the main floor. So, you could kind of get to the kitchen and everything but then you have to go upstairs to go the bedrooms and bathrooms and downstairs to get to the garage. And, you know, when we bought the house, my arthritis was in a totally different place. And again, being an optimist is a good thing and a bad thing.

I think, you know, we really didn’t consider it very seriously, my arthritis, when we looked in the house. In the back of my mind — I already was an occupational therapist — in the back of my mind, I thought, “Hmm, this might not be our forever home because of all the steps,” but we just couldn’t resist because we like the home, you know, the rest of it. But then now — so that was like in 2012 — now, with this home, it was definitely like an — I was thinking this is gonna be our forever home. And I’m like, this is non-negotiable, we have to be able to — we actually created a deck on the front and did a bunch of stuff with the landscaping so it actually has no steps to enter. It’s just, I mean, you have to go over the threshold of the door. And you could live, do everything on the main floor, you know.

And again, that’s a privilege that we were able to, you know, to purchase a home like that, but it’s definitely what you just covered is just all these things to think about. Because certain things you can change, right, you can change out the door handles, but you can’t necessarily change like the hill that your house is on or how many steps. But that does bring us to ramps. Like, long term, if it just has a couple of steps, you could create a ramp.

11:57 Lindsay:     Yeah, and one thing about ramps that I always like to really bring up is the fact that if you have a home that can accommodate a covered ramp, so a ramp that could be in a garage or under a covered ceiling, porch, that type of thing, that is huge. If you live — I mean, just about any climate, you’re going to have to contend with weather but especially in cold weather climates or very wet climates like the Northwest, having a covered ramp is a huge benefit.

So, being able to put one in your garage or in there, that’s a big factor for a lot of people having success being able to age in place in their homes, is that covered ramp solution. So, that’s another factor. Another thing you can consider if you’re not ready for a ramp but you need something else, are walker depth stairs. So, steps for entrance that are double depth, they are going to be shorter, they’re going to be lower. So, they’re slightly lower to climb, so lower rise and the depth is such that you could put a full-size walker on each step without having it tip. So, it’s a much more stable solution. Again, something you can kind of age with and a lot of times something that you can kind of work through your — work into your landscaping, work into a deck. It looks really nice, but it’s also very functional.

13:08 Cheryl:       I love that Do you mind telling the audience who might not have heard, what does ‘age in place’ mean?

13:15 Lindsay:     So, the concept of aging in place is pretty ubiquitous with OT, PT, anyone who’s in the home health world, we talk about it. And it’s basically the concept of designing for the future. Understanding that if your goal is to stay in a physical environment through the lifespan, certain things need to be possible, you know, you need to know that potentially a wheelchair could fit in this home, potentially there could be ramping, potentially… So, the other concept and term that we throw around a lot is ‘universal design’. So, designing for the future, designing for just about any scenario.

I always like to tell people, “It’s not a self-fulfilling prophecy,” okay. So, if you design for potential bad things to happen, it doesn’t mean you’re being negative, or you’re focusing on the negative, or that you hope bad things happen. It just means that you’re ready.

I mean, I have a four-year-old who just broke her arm. We fortunately had some things in place at our house because of what I do for a living that made it so I could give her a bath right away, so that I could set her up for success with her dressing and grooming. And because we were already pretty set up for those things, so we have some certain universal designs in our home that made it possible to deal with that little hiccup and it’s been a no big deal. So, that’s kind of where that aging in place concept is similar as well.

14:29 Cheryl:       I love it. Thank you. Yeah, I just, I always try to define these terms because like, they’re not always self evident. Yeah, and universal design is one that a lot of people hopefully have heard of, you know, and it helps everyone, you know, like the classic example is, you know, the ramps that were designed for people who are using wheelchairs for mobility they also help mothers or fathers who are pushing a baby in a stroller. So, designing it to be used for anyone regardless of their situation is so helpful.

So, okay. Now, we’ve gotten into the house. Now, let’s talk about bathrooms because that’s a very complex area, but it’s one of our required activities of daily living, is going to the bathroom for most of us, hopefully multiple times a day. So, what are some of the things that, yeah, that you would go to for people with arthritis in the bathroom?

15:19 Lindsay:     So, my current favorite bathroom gadget is a bidet. These things have grown in popularity over the last couple years thanks to the great toilet paper shortage of the pandemic which we all experienced in some way, shape, or form. Bidets started flying off the shelves and I had some experience with them but I thought, “Let’s just give these a try.” They are amazing.

They are — the variety that is available, you can do a handheld today which is something that looks much like a, some people would call them like a diaper sprayer. It kind of goes into the tank of your toilet and those are fantastic as a handheld option. Not maybe as great for somebody with arthritis. I prefer the under-the-seat mount variety. They’re low cost. Most bidet products are in the $30 range to start, and then you can go up from there. You want something with a heated seat that’ll do your taxes for you, they got bidets that will do that. I mean, they are everywhere.

So, I’m a big fan of those as far as reducing not only the effort that is required in completing your daily hygiene, they’re an excellent infection control measure. The UTI risk comes down significantly if you’re doing proper bowel hygiene every time you go and this is something that we find people who have fatigue, or chronic pain issues, or hand dexterity issues really struggle with this. And so, you see a slightly higher risk for UTI development because of that. So, I’m a big proponent of the bidet system and I have multiple videos on different types, how to install them and all of that, and those links will be available as well. So, if you have specific questions about bidets, I’ve answered those in pretty great depth elsewhere, so definitely check them out. But that’s a great starting point.

16:58 Cheryl:       And then, can I just really quick, in case people haven’t — because I remember I had heard about bidets and knew it had something to do with water and I was kind of confused how that all worked. But just so people know, it’s a mechanism where you don’t even need toilet paper. So, it really reduces that demand of having to pull the toilet paper off to, you know, to twist it to get it off and then move your shoulder and your hand around to get to the back. I mean, there’s a lot of physical demands of wiping, so the bidet kind of eschews those — what’s that, is that the right word? It’s a workaround. Yeah.

17:31 Lindsay:     It’s a workaround. Literally.

17:34 Cheryl:       Do you find — because okay, I’m gonna be totally 100% honest, because I did it. I did a video demonstrating the toilet paper holder aid, you know, like the long handle toilet paper holder. And I got hundreds of comments saying that I need to try that bidet. I have the Luxe bidet sitting in the bathroom and I haven’t installed it yet, so I can’t say I’ve used. I know I’ve just been procrastinating, so I’m confused whether do you still need to wipe sometimes, or do you just kind of air dry?

17:58 Lindsay:     Okay. So, what I have found, I have three bidets in my home which is a lot of bidets. And my husband was scared to use them but now he won’t use anything else. But that’s beside the point. If you do not have time to sit and air dry, a bit of toilet paper, dab lightly, you’re on your way. However, there is — so, we have a bidet in our house that has all of the bells and whistles including an air dryer. So, it not only — 

18:23 Cheryl:       Oho!

18:24 Lindsay:     Yeah. Yes, it not only has heated water, it has a heated seat. So, you sit down on a warm seat with warm water and then a gentle breeze dries you off at the end. It’s like a vacation, really. 

18:38 Cheryl:       I love it. I love it. 

18:40 Lindsay:     Much more expensive option but you still have to sit there for a minute and I tell you, most people’s biggest concern is one, I’m not going to get all the way clean. And that is — I’ve not found that to be the case. I find it to be very thorough. The Luxe today, specifically, which is I think the most popular one on Amazon, that’s like the first place people go. I have the Luxe bidet, their Neo 120. It’s like a pressure washer. It’s not gentle. Like, if you’ve got sensitivity issues, like, you’re gonna feel that but it’s also very thorough in its cleaning. So, I find our other one, the more fancy one is a little gentler but also very thorough. And the the one that I have, the more expensive model, has actually front and back. It does — it moves the water spray, whereas the Luxe bidet, you move your bottom to get where you want it. The other one, you just push a button and it’s got this big remote and it’s kind of amazing, but it costs the same as like a mortgage payment, so.

19:34 Cheryl:       Yeah, we, when we went to Japan years ago, I do remember being able to play with one of those. But that’s amazing. Yeah, and I think this is what convinced me to get it, I just have procrastinated on actually installing it. But someone said, you know, if your hands are dirty, would you rather wash them under the water or just take a towel, like a dry towel and like wash my —? Oh, yeah, I would want it, like it does seem a little bit more thorough to use water. So, anyway a little bidet appreciation. Okay, so, sorry. What else in the bathroom?

20:03 Lindsay:     So, obviously, toilets in general can be made much more accessible simply by adjusting the height. Now, I’m a big proponent of risers and grab bars and safety frames when they’re needed. But I also want to say with a caveat, and this might be a little bit off of it, but I don’t recommend adding height unless you need it. A lot of people will jump to height right away and it’s like, “I just need it to be higher up and I’ll be better off,” but also remember that for your toileting comfort, most people can’t go to the bathroom with their feet dangling.

And so, a lot of times we jump to, “If I just add some height, we’ll fix the problem,” make sure that you’re addressing the patient’s actual physical height prior to adjusting the height of the toilet. Sometimes you don’t need to add height, you just need to add a place to grab. So, a safety frame which amounts to the actual toilet or grab bars.

And I love the new grab bars that are out there that don’t look like grab bars so you don’t have to have an institutional looking bathroom. I am really excited. Delta, there’s — I mean, there’s a whole bunch of brands but Delta is kind of a big brand that has toilet paper holders that look like toilet paper holders but are completely graded for grab bar function, so you can grab onto that thing and pull 300 pounds against it and stand up. So, super nice to have that option so you don’t look like you’re a bathroom that’s been modified, but it has those parts to it. So, that’s a big thing around the toilet that I like to kind of draw attention to. 

21:23 Cheryl:       I love it. I’m adding that to my shopping list for the house.

21:27 Lindsay:     Do it. You won’t regret it. I know my own parents just remodeled and oh, they built new and they did not want to put grab bars in their house because they didn’t like the look. And I was like, come on, you guys. So, I found them all of the most beautiful grab bars out there and I was like, “You can. No one will ever know,” and they love them. So, you can be sneaky. 

21:47 Cheryl:       We have to do that Tik Tok video to that sound, “No one’s gonna know. No one’s gonna know. They’re gonna know.”

21:54 Lindsay:     “They’re gonna know.” Yeah. So, let’s go to the shower because — so, I have an inflammatory bowel disease and I developed some joint pain from that. And so, I can only imagine what it’s like to live with a chronic joint inflammatory disease. That sounds absolutely miserable. And so, the one place that a lot of people find comfort is the shower. The hot water, the relaxation of it.

The shower should be a place of healing, not a place of stress. And for so many people it is a place of absolute terror because it’s exhausting to bathe. It’s physically uncomfortable. Their blood pressure drops, things happen in the shower that are scary. Having a properly fitted shower seat should be something that every person has. I have them. I’ve got every single member of my family set up with something. Whether they use it every day, doesn’t matter, but they have it because having it is such a wonderful peace of mind. And they are not all created equal. They don’t all look the same. You can have beautiful teak shower chairs and folding ones. I’ve got one that mounts to a grab bar in the shower. It’s really cool. The one thing I do recommend: Don’t have one built into your shower. 

23:03 Cheryl:       Oh, can I tell you that I saw your post about that. Like, literally after we had just finalized the shower design with the seat. I was like, “I’m gonna be such a good OT. I’m gonna just design the seat right into the —” and then I was like, oh no. I’ve made an error. And that’s okay.

23:16 Lindsay:     Oh no, no, no, no, no.

23:18 Cheryl:       It’s okay. Do as Lindsay says, not as Cheryl recently did.

23:22 Lindsay:     So, now, I’m sure when you did it, you took into consideration the factors that are rarely considered when they put in shower seats, which is the height of the seat, the location and distance from the controls, all of that. If those things are all considered really cautiously and like really, you know, with that in mind, it’s fine.

My problem with the mounted shower seat is it also takes up valuable floor space and oftentimes in the molded showers like the insert showers, the really inexpensive ones, they are right — they take up 50% of the shower floor. If you ever need assistance in the shower, your caregiver now can’t fit in with you. And so, you know, that’s always something I like to point out. The other one that I see in some homes are the walk-in tubs, those like tubs that you sit, that you sit in. Those are terrible, okay. I’m going to show my true colors on those. Don’t get them. They are a waste of money. They are not conducive to adaptability because you’d have to step in, there’s no accessibility.

24:21 Cheryl:       So, just to make sure I know you’re saying. You’re not talking about the bathtubs that are actually designed to have like a kind of a door thing on them. But you are talking about those, not the ones that are just regular quote-unquote ‘bathtubs’ that you step into?

24:34 Lindsay:     Correct. I’m talking about the fancy, fancy expensive ones that have a door, and you sit in it, and you sit upright. I understand the concept, but they just don’t do what people think they’re going to do. They are not going to give you a more comfortable bathing experience from the sense that you have to now step in and step back, so if you ever are wheelchair bound, you’ll never get into it. If you ever have any limited leg mobility, you’ll never get into it. You have to sit in it while it fills. It takes a long time, you’re usually cold by the time it fills, and the stress and the length of time that it takes, most people just avoid them all together. And they cost twice as much as a standard tub.

So, I recommend people go with a standard tub and then take into consideration if they struggle to get up and down from a tub, because a good soak is wonderful, there are tools out there. There are seats that have elevators on them that can lift you up. There are grab bars you can add to the edges of tubs to help pull yourself out. It’s a much more appropriate design and, I think, long-term a better solution.

25:32 Cheryl:       That is so helpful. That’s good to know. No, thank you, and it’s so good to know like, yeah, what — not all adaptive equipment is made equal, right? And something that looks fancier and it’s more expensive isn’t actually necessarily more functional for you. So, that’s a great lesson. 

25:47 Lindsay:     Yeah. In my experience, they have been over-recommended and under — they underperform for what people think they’re getting for their money.

25:55 Cheryl:       That’s really sad. Yeah. And I love that you mentioned the, just the benefits of hot, you know, soaking in the bathtub or in the shower. I know a lot of my listeners love taking like a shower when their joints are stiff especially in the morning, to just kind of get that, yeah, get the stiffness relieved. And so, having a shower in there is — I mean, not the shower, having a seat is so important for the fatigue aspect and for the fall risk because you are more likely to trip and fall when you’re, you know, when you’re fatigued or when your blood pressure drops. So, thank you for mentioning that. And anything else in the bathrooms? Oh yeah, you go on.

26:34 Lindsay:     The shower, the showerhead. So, the handheld showerhead. Every shower should have a handheld showerhead if you ever anticipate sitting. It’s going to make your life so much better. And just, you know, having that consideration. They’re just wonderful to have and they’re so inexpensive to install. Then on top of that, make sure if you have a handheld showerhead, that you have a handheld showerhead holder. So, something mounted down at reasonable height where you can actually mount the showerhead so you’re not having to stand up and sit down and stand up and sit down to retrieve the handheld showerhead holder, or the handheld showerhead. So, that’s my other one.

27:05 Cheryl:       That’s super big, though. Yeah, ’cause it’s like I’m used to — I don’t have a lot of problems with my shoulders in general for my arthritis. But then when I got in a car accident and I had really bad neck pain every time I lifted my shoulder more than like, I don’t know, 80 degrees. I was like, oh, no. Like, my whole kitchen is not thought out for shoulder pain. And then, yeah, the things that you can’t move very easily like the location of the handheld shower hold — I’ll get probably a handheld shower hol-der —

27:33 Lindsay:     Hol, hur, hor, hah. 

27:35 Cheryl:       [Laughs] Can you tell I went to speech therapy until I was in third grade. I was — I was — [intelligible noises]. 

27:40 Lindsay:     [Laughs] You’re doing great.

27:41 Cheryl:       I’m working on it. I’m working on talking. Yeah. Practicing a lot. The one thing I didn’t, that’s not actually built into the home and I’m sorry I didn’t mention this earlier, but I do want to spend a couple minutes on the grooming aspect of being in the bathroom. So, I know you have some great ideas for things like drying your hair or makeup and stuff like that.

28:02 Lindsay:     I’m really liking the gooseneck holders. So, if you’re familiar with — you’ve probably seen them, like they’re the little click-click-click, I don’t know how — I’m making a noise to demonstrate the image. But they are really strong and positionable pieces of metal, basically, that are wrapped in something, usually rubber or plastic. And I have one that clamps onto the countertop of my bathroom and then on the end of it, it has a C-clamp. Kind of a big C-clamp that can hold on to just about anything. It is strong enough to hold in position my blow dryer and I have a full-size, heavy diffuser blow dryer that it held on to no problem, which is an awesome hand and shoulder saver if you can have that be held while you brush your hair out. I even tested it out as like a way to hold cosmetic bottles so that I could one-handed manage them. So, if you ever recovering from a procedure, carpal tunnel release or something, and you’re kind of one-handed for a period of time, it can act as a second hand in your bathroom, which is so useful for so many things. 

Also, pump tops. Don’t sleep on pump tops. Don’t be trying to lift up and dump out giant Costco-sized bottles of soaps and conditioners and things like that. Pump tops are cheap and available everywhere. Replace all your tops with pump tops. Much, much easier to deal with. I’m trying to think — oh, I know you did a video with the scalp massaging — those for washing the shampoo — yes, those are fantastic. The long handled sponges are great.

There’s obviously room for invention here, so I like to also take and use some of our OT tools that we tend to use out in the field and modify existing things. So, that can be adding cylindrical foam which is just chunky pieces of brown foam with different size openings so you can fit, you know, your hairbrush, for example, making the handle on that a little bit bigger to it’s easier to hold. Or, you know, like I said with makeup containers, adding a grippy top to your makeup so it’s easier to twist the top off your mascara container. Those simple things can make a big difference.

I also use Dycem a lot in the bathroom. And if your viewers have never heard of Dycem, it is an amazing little silicone very sticky pad and you can buy it in a roll, cut it to any size and shape, and add it anywhere in your life to give things grip, whether that’s the countertop so you can set things on the countertop and they’re not sliding around, or to actually be able to open containers. I use it in the kitchen and in the bathroom a lot. So, those are some other little insider tricks that I like to use.

30:25 Cheryl:       Those are those are perfect, they’re the exact that I’ve I’ve used as well.  Awesome. Thank you so much. Now let’s go on to the kitchen which we were just saying before we recorded this, we could spend two hours on an episode just about the kitchen. I mean, it’s endless, but what are some of the big things to think about for arthritis in the kitchen?

30:44 Lindsay:     So, kitchen gadgets are dime a dozen, you know, there are as many kitchen gadgets as there are pieces of food items to eat. It’s just crazy how many things there are. So, I’m a big proponent of kind of the gadget versus the the number of uses it has, you know. Let’s make sure that we’re not — I don’t like to just load people up with a bunch of random stuff and have it not get used all that often when we can make modifications to existing things that make them work better for them.

But that being said, I do have a few favorite gadgets that I do like in the kitchen. I think we’ve come a long way for like can openers and things like that. It used to be you only have one or two options for electric can openers. Now you’ve got dozens of different ones and I have tested probably seven of them. My absolute favorite kitchen can openers by Kitchen Mama, I love that one. It’s so simple. It can be stored in a drawer. It’s not a countertop model. It just works. Fairly lightweight, a good ergonomic hand design, easy to grab. I mean, my kids can use it, I can use it, it’s very safe, and it cuts the whole top of the can off so you don’t have sharp edges to contend with. You’re not pulling out the little top. 

So, that Kitchen Mama can opener is by far my favorite. I also like — I like my Dycem in the kitchen. I use it for opening bottles and containers because it can modify to each grip, size, and type. So, I love to use a chunk of Dycem, I keep it all the time. And then on top of that, I use the can openers and bottle openers, the rubber — the rubberized tools. There’s a lot of different types out there, I’ve tried a lot. They all kind of work similarly. I find that there’s no one that’s perfect. Unfortunately, I wish there was. 

I just recently use the undermount can openers that have like, it’s like a V shape, it’s metal, it’s got teeth, and you jam your thing, your container, in it and then you twist. I do like that one because it was easy for containers that had weird tops. So, like jars and things, like I had some jarred preserves that were given to me as a gift and it had a really smooth top. And I struggled to open it myself and it did work on the teeth because it was so grippy. So, that’s a good one for like your really smooth containers, hard to open containers. And it’s nice because it’s concealed up underneath your cabinet so it doesn’t take up any counter space. So, those are some of my favorite opener tools. Do you have any more that you’d add?

32:58 Cheryl:       Oh, no. And I I’m grateful that Kitchen Mama sent me one to try out, the electronic opener, and it was great like you said. Couple other ones that I do like and this is a little bit of a — it’s overkill for my personal needs right now but I just enjoy it, which is the electronic salt and pepper grinders. So, instead of sitting there and getting like this — sorry, instead of sitting there and twisting manually, there’s two different sides actually.

One is from Kitchen Mama where you just actually twist it upside down and it automatically starts grinding the salt or pepper and there’s another one that’s a button so the button, the press-in one, is a little bit harder but though if you ever happen to accidentally knock things down all the time, which I’ve learned that I do, the other one — the one where you just have to flip it upside down, it actually will start taking the salt out if it’s knocked over sideways.

33:49 Lindsay:     Good thing it’s good luck to spill salt so you’re good. 

33:53 Lindsay:     Yeah, yeah, but that’s true. I really like what you said about, you know, modifying the existing things that you have versus just loading yourself up with gadgets. I mean, like this is totally — like, people are gonna be laughing because I love, you know, having a giant collection of gadgets. I mean, part of it for me is the education piece of showing people the different ones. I think, for my own personal use, I don’t use all the ones that I demonstrate. I demonstrate them so that others can know like this is available and this might work. But knowing how to modify, like you said, with Dycem and stuff like that is super big.

I think one thing that I’ve thought about with our own kitchen design that I’ve heard some people are doing — I’m curious your opinion on it — is, I mean, there’s the standard counter height, which is I think, is that 36 inches? Yeah. Okay. And then some people have a little area of their kitchen where it’s a little bit lower like a baking area so the height isn’t quite as high, so that you’re not having to kind of elevate your — like, chicken wing your arms as much when you’re cooking. What do you think about that? I’m just curious.

34:52 Lindsay:     Yeah, the roll up counters. So, I’ve heard them called roll up, roll under counters as well and they’re oftentimes tied into like a peninsula or an island space so that you can — it’s great for kids if, you know, it’s got a lot of versatility. I think anytime you can have multiple height levels in a space like a kitchen, it’s huge. I have found there there’s no downside to it, if that makes sense. I’ve seen it I’ve seen it added more frequently into just standard design principles which is really great to see because builders and homeowners alike are finding there’s no downside to it. You can buy standard height stools.

One thing that’s really interesting is like, so, stool height is something we don’t always think about. But we were like, for a while there, I don’t know if it was a thing in like the early 2000s, 90s, whatever stools were super high. We were using bar height stools in our kitchen spaces and that is wildly inaccessible to the vast majority of users. If you’re a shorter adult, if you’re an older person, or maybe a child, climbing that height to use these bar height tops is just super impractical. So, instead of going up with our bar top heights we’re coming down and it makes so much more sense to a larger volume of users. You’re not limiting the use so much with the height difference, so I’m a big fan of the lower heights, or having multiple heights available in your kitchen. I just did a video, actually, on how you can create a lower height cabinet or counter by just pulling out a drawer and putting a cutting board on top of it to give you a roll under counter if you can’t modify your kitchen by, you know, this is a faster, cheaper way to do it.

36:29 Cheryl:       I love that, yeah. The other thing that surprised me when we were shopping for appliances because we totally got out of the kitchen is I, you know, of course, even though was the pandemic, you know, I insisted that we’ve try the fridge or, you know, opening the fridges and stuff in person. So, we went on like this is, you know, we had to order our appliances months ago, because of the pandemic shortages and everything. Long story short, I was shocked that how many of the same exact kind of styles, and materials, and price points of refrigerators had vastly different amount of resistance when trying to open them and different ease of use for the handles for them.

So, it’s really the kind of thing that you have to try in person. Like, I mean, we tried one just for fun. I tried the Sub-Zero fridge, which is like the most expensive you can possibly get. And it was just like, let me see, you know? Like, it was impossible practically to open it with so — and maybe that’s why it’s expensive. Maybe it’s like pure steel or something.

But yeah, just making sure you try them and think about is there multiple ways to grasp, you know, is it you have to hold it just one way, how long is the handle. And then I actually tried one fridge that was an interesting design that seems semi-arthritis friendly, which was a push to open fridge. So, the thing that they told me like, “We know you have a child. Just so you know, the families with small kids, the kids get really excited. They’re like push, push, push, push, push, and then they leave it open.”

But it was like, okay. With arthritis and all these chronic conditions, it’s everything is a — what’s the word I’m looking for — it’s a trade off. So, I like the fact that with a push one I could use my big muscles like my shoulders and my back or even like push my elbow into it to kind of open it, or lean my whole body into it to open, but then the trade off is that it was awkward to open and you could accidentally open it. Versus other ones which is that most fridges have a handle, right, that’s like the default. And that’s, by definition, harder on your hands, right. You can use something like Dycem, you know, or or you can maybe even like adapt it — have you had anyone adapt a fridge handle by like tying a rope around it or something, you know, so you can adapt it.

And so, we ultimately went for the the traditional design, but with the lightest weight, the lightest weight doors because that was a big deal for me thinking about a repetitive motion you’re doing every single day, you know, how that’s going to contribute to wear and tear over time.

39:00 Lindsay:     And that’s such an important concept when you’re considering if you’re remodeling or purchasing is if this is going to be something you do more than a few times a day, you better be certain that whatever you’re using is friendly because you will eventually start to feel it.

And so, with with refrigerators, it’s interesting. So, we have modified refrigerators. I’ve done a lot of refrigerator modifications that we’ve added pullout. So, with those French door styles, the nice thing about that is because of the size and the width, you can actually use the same sliding out mechanisms that they use in kitchen cabinets to pull a cabinet drawer or door — or not door — a shelf out, you can actually add something very similar to a refrigerator to actually pull the contents of the thing out to you, which is amazing. And then as far as the door handles are concerned, it’s really important that it seems like the custom fridges — so people will have fridges that are like built in to blend with the rest of their kitchen — they’re wildly inaccessible because they hide the handles. So, usually they’re like little hooks or like a place so you can kind of like get your fingers in there, so sometimes those really expensive custom ones are the worst.

Another one is the oven, where you put your — how you’re set up for your your handles; do you have one on the front? Are they in the back? Are they turn knobs? What kind of turn knobs? Are they big turn knobs? Are they the little, you know, little tiny skinny turn knobs? Those all come in. And the cool thing about most ovens is you can change out the knobs. You can just buy replacement knobs that are more accessible. But if you buy the heavily customized ones or the really digital displays, sometimes those are really difficult to modify to make them easier for yourself. So, you know, sometimes the expensive way isn’t always the best way, unfortunately.

40:40 Cheryl:       Oh, I’m so glad you mentioned that about the doors. I forgot that some of those fridges, yeah, they didn’t have an actual handle. They have like a groove within the door that you have to really jam your fingers into. Very inaccessible. And some of the dishwashers do to. The dishwasher doors aren’t quite as heavy as refrigerator doors. The other thing that we really went back and forth on is French door refrigerator versus side-by-side and, again, it’s a trade off. So, a side-by-side fridge and freezer unit, what I liked about that is that I, that I can put some of my freezer items at exactly like arm’s reach. Like, I’m not having to bend down each time. I don’t have a lot of problems with my hips or my knees right now but I’m just thinking for the future, you know, and so I’m thinking, “Okay, the French door I didn’t like as much,” because we do use the freezer a lot.

So, having to each time pull it out and then like have to bend down, you know, but then — so, we ultimately went for the side by side but I can see like you’re saying then if you’re mostly using stuff on the fridge, then the French doors are better because then all of your items you could put kind of at arm’s reach. So, yeah.

41:42 Lindsay:     You have a much — you have a larger amount of space at the height that’s at like a shoulder or below. So, shoulder to hip, shoulder to hip is like the hot zone, right. If you can put items of frequent use between your shoulder and your hips, you’re going to have best access to them.

So, if you look in your kitchen, and this accounts for every square foot of your kitchen, if your most used things are usually drawers, right underneath the cabinet, right at that hip height because you barely have to move to get things out of there. So, if you can design a kitchen space that takes advantage of that first few feet right below the counter, that is the hot spot. So, if you’re wasting that space on, you know, junk drawers and stuff, you’re really not using your kitchen very accessibly.

The same thing for the first few, you know, the first level of cabinetry. Making sure that that stuff is the frequently used things. And then, you know, I like — countertop storage is a really complex one because you don’t want a lot of things cluttering your counter. But if you have frequently used items and you really struggle with shoulder issues, having some good organized storage on the actual counter itself that can be concealed but easily retrieved for somebody who’s really struggling it can make a huge difference.

42:49 Cheryl:       I love that, yeah. And I think we’ve already thought — and we haven’t even, again, moved into this house yet, but we’ve already actually like listed out what are the things that are going to go into different drawers because it is so important for me to be like, okay, and it doesn’t have to be the traditional way. Most people have, like, plates and bowls above their counter. I’m going to have them down below. That’s much easier for me to lift up, again, because I don’t have — my neck still can get tweaked sometimes with my old injury but in general it’s just much easier for me to kind of just like lift up plates from, you know, closer to my hip height versus closer to my shoulder.

So, you know, thinking about also like — I’m just throwing out ideas. I mean, they become a little bit common sense when you’ve been living with a painful condition for a while but, you know, a lot of us really love that Corelle Ware from Target. It’s extremely light. And you can break it, I have already broken some because I’m very talented at breaking but, you know, it’s harder to break than your average. And it’s really, really — it’s durable, but really lightweight. So, you know, just thinking about all the aspects of how you’re organizing your French — I mean, your kitchen.

43:55 Lindsay:     Yeah, your whole kitchen. Yeah, it’s it’s amazing what a little bit of forethought can do to the layout. And as you’re unloading a kitchen, if you’re lifting something and it’s heavy and you put it at the very bottom or the very top cabinet, just think, you’ll never get that out safely. Like, we need to re kind of flip the script on how we organize our space and be like okay, we need, you know, consider the lifting demands of the various items that we’re going to put.

Like, pantries are an awesome place to get really, really accessible. So, if you can construct a space that has a pantry, walk in or roll in, even better, pantry space that adds so much extra accessibility that you can put things at awesome heights for you to be able to retrieve. So, canned foods, things like that, it can make a huge difference. And I listened to your episode several weeks back but you did a wonderful one about inflammatory diet. And I loved that.

And it was — it made me think about this a little bit differently too, is like, one of the things I was gonna say is for energy conservation in the kitchen. You can start to change how you cook, you know. It’s maybe not so much the equipment but it’s having a folding stool always available for you in the kitchen. I have one that hangs on the side of my island. If I’m sitting and managing something like a gravy or something that needs a lot of attention, pop the stool out, sit down, I can do that without having to stand there, or if I’m doing a lot of prep work I can sit to do it. So, having that. 

But also using like HelloFresh or these types of delivery services that will bring you the ingredients so you don’t have to do all of the steps but you can still prepare your own meals because it’s not always about, you know, how you’re going to do it or the tools you’re using but also what you’re doing in the kitchen. You know, it’s so much of our well being is tied into food and I think that you know having a space that is conducive to that it’s just so huge, and I loved that episode and I thought a lot of your listeners probably consider their food very carefully, and so the kitchen space is so incredibly important.

45:51 Cheryl:       Oh, I’m so glad you mentioned that. And yeah, I know that, you know, Jennifer the chronic pain nutritionist and Christina and Kiya, they are big advocates for understanding the difference between minimally processed food and highly processed food because when you’re living with a fatiguing condition like rheumatoid arthritis, there is nothing wrong with incorporating a minimally processed food. That’s things like frozen vegetables, you know, you don’t have to be like harvesting everything from your own perfectly organic garden to be able to be eating an anti-inflammatory diet, you know, so yeah, I’m so glad you mentioned that.

The stool in the kitchen is so important. I’m curious what your thoughts are on quote-unquote ‘anti-fatigue mats’. Because I bought one actually and I was like — I’m just such a contrarian sometimes. I was like, I’m imagining this is supposed to be a magical mat that I just stand on my fatigue disappears. No, I know that it’s meant to kind of support you. Because I have a friend who is a physical therapist who has an anti fatigue mat, and she found that it helped a lot. I don’t know, I couldn’t really figure out if it was helping me or not.

46:56 Lindsay:     My experience with them has been mixed. My mother swears by them. I think the reason I have not seen the benefit of — and I think you and I have a similar personality type in that we tend to move around a lot in our space. And so, my mom loves it because she uses it when she stands at the sink and washes dishes. So, she stands there for a lot and my mom is one of those people that puts like two items of her entire kitchen in the dishwasher and doesn’t trust the dishwasher for the rest of it, so she’ll stand there and hand wash a huge amount of dishes. And so, she loves to be able to do that. And when she cans, she’s standing in one spot like transferring items. So, she’s she’s really stationary and she loves the anti-fatigue mat. She stands on that when she does those tasks.

I don’t stand still for more than two seconds at a time. That’s why I have to use the stool because it forces me to rest because otherwise I am flitting about like a hummingbird because it’s just how I am. So, I think the answer to your question is it depends greatly on how you use it.

47:52 Cheryl:       That’s so true. But that’s true of any tool, right? And this is — again, I feel like I’m — when people interview me for articles, you know, like, “Oh, what are your best, you know, best tips for a handbag with arthritis,” is one the other day or best kitchen gadgets. I’m always like — again, I’m like not trying to be difficult, but like the true answer is like the best tool is your brain, like understanding how to interact with the objects in your environment and how to understand how to select the right tool for the right task. Like, your brain is the best — yeah, yeah.

So, anyway, you are living this more than I am in terms of, you know, you’ve worked with a lot more people’s homes, people in their homes, and we all just want that gadget to do all the work for us. But we still have choices in how we’re interacting with things. 

48:39 Lindsay:     There are tools though, and like another one of my favorite kitchen tools is the Kitchen Wizard which is the — or the Chop wizard — which is, I think, the original brand was called the Vidalia chopper. But now it’s since lost, I think it’s copyright and so other people are coming out with their versions, but it’s basically just this chopping tool that you place the item on and then you slam the lid and it chops it and dices it into little tiny chunks.

Which seems kind of silly, I got it as a wedding gift and was like, “What am I gonna do with this thing?” I love this thing. It honestly does, if you use it and like if you’re doing meal prep, and again, if you’re doing a lot of low processed food like I do a lot of soup preps, you can make — I can make three or four different soups in one sitting using this tool and it cuts down on my prep time by half. So, a tool like that, I mean, we’re talking big value for $20, you know, they’re $30 or whatever it costs, you know, or using really ergonomically friendly knives as the ulu blades, the curved blades, the modified handle blades, or simply just using good quality sharp knives. I cannot tell you how valuable just telling my patient, “Okay, well, let’s look at what you’re doing when you’re prepping a meal. This seems like it’s really a struggle. Can we look at your blades on your knives?” and they’re dull, and they’re hard to work with, and it’s frustrating. So having really good quality knives can make all the difference.

50:00 Cheryl:       Yeah. Yeah, it’s all about like finding that sweet swap between like the workarounds. Like, I buy a lot of pre-chopped vegetables and fruits. I’m like, I don’t want to deal with chopping. Again, that works for when I’m making. It might not work for your, you know, cultural foods or whatnot. So, just figuring out the balance between the workaround strategy and then the — there’s always a remedial strategy too. In OT, the remedial one is like, okay, well, if let’s say you have really significantly decreased grip strength that’s affecting you across different tasks, of course you could try to work on increasing your strength, you know. There’s that too, but today is mostly focused on like the workarounds, but we don’t want to forget the other like — 

50:39 Lindsay:     Scaffold. Yeah, scaffolding, right. You build — you’re going to build up to the thing, but it’s okay sometimes to use — I get a little frustrated because people tend to be like, “Just do it yourself,” or, you know, “You could just grab it and did it,” and it’s like, hmm, it’s not always that simple. It’s okay to use equipment if it makes — I always say, “If this makes one task that you have to do today easier and saves you the energy for the task you want to do later, than it was worth it.” If I can save some energy cutting these vegetables so that I can get down on the floor and play cards with my daughter, it was definitely worth it versus me being so tired I don’t have the patience or energy for that later task that has a lot more meaning to my day.

51:17 Cheryl:       Yeah, that’s — I love that. That’s such a hot OT take. I love it. Yeah, I’m so glad you mentioned knives too. I can’t believe I didn’t think about that because that is one of the one things. Sharpening my knives, I never used to do that before I had arthritis. I mean, I was also 20, so I was like living in a dorm room but, you know, I also, even in my art — when my arthritis was in remission, I didn’t do it. But when I started having hand pain again, yeah, that’s huge. And then just for times sake, I guess we can move on but I’m sure we’ll think — again, we could talk about kitchen all day.

I also want to talk about just the bedroom in general. You know, we, again, talking about like mistakes I’ve made in the past. My husband I, we still have the mattress we got after our wedding. We like are obsessed with it. It’s great, but it is high. It is super high. And it’s like, it doesn’t even have a boxspring. It’s just a mattress with a gigantic pillowtop. And again, it’s not something we thought about but, you know, sometimes a higher bed can be helpful if you have a lot of pain with bending. But there have been times, like after my C-section, it was, you know, I’m sitting here like, “Oh, my God. OT, like, you should have thought of this before,” you know, you don’t know. I’m so focused on the baby, I kind of forgot to think about myself. But anyway, so, what are some things you think about in the bedroom for arthritis?

52:31Lindsay:      So, in the bedroom, it’s interesting because it’s changing with costs coming down for power assist beds. So, the elevating head and foot beds which are becoming so much more common, it used to be very rare that we’d see anything with those features in a home. But in the last five years, not only has the costs of mattresses come down substantially, but the cost down of these electric frames has come down. So, a power button frame that can elevate your head, elevate your legs; I mean, talk about a nice option for getting people into comfortable positions for a whole host of reasons.

But there’s one very important caveat to these beds, we have not yet come up with a good bed rail system for them. Because those beds adjust in height, the traditional bed rail systems which require, typically, for you to wedge the support piece between a mattress and a box spring, they don’t take into consideration a moving bed frame. And so, the vast majority of bed rails don’t work for those beds.

So, what I recommend for those situations are — and these are pieces of equipment that I actually really like — but the standard security pole which is a tension pole that goes between the ceiling and the floor, it twists in just like a tension rod wood. It’s very sturdy, it doesn’t actually require in most cases that you drill any holes, just the tension between the floor and the ceiling is sufficient. And then it has a movable pivoting grab point that can be at the height that you need it. So, if you position it next to the bed, it can be positioned. At every 45 degrees, it locks into position so you can grab it and use it to help you position yourself, and it’s not actually attached to the bed. So, that’s one nice feature.

Another one is the old standby, the bed ladder. So, I’m going to try to describe a bed ladder if you’ve never seen one before, but it’s basically a fabric system that has rungs sewn between it that the rungs are usually foam covered. There’s one by Vive that I really like if you just search Vive — V-I-V-E — Bed Ladder, you’ll see. I actually have a video about it as well. It mounts to the underside of your bed, either at the foot or on the sides and it gives you a point to grab. So, if you have core weakness ala your C-section recovery, a bed ladder is a wonderful way to give you something to grab on to and pull to help you reposition in bed so you’re not having to wiggle and do that. And they’re cheap, under $20.

54:38 Cheryl:       So, and this, you have creative brains like mine. I was imagining this being a vertical ladder. And I was like — but it’s actually like attached to the base of the bed and then you — yeah, it’s like horizontal, like parallel to you in the bed. Yeah, sorry. You probably described that. But I looked at the picture as you were talking.

54:56 Lindsay:     I know, some — I imagine your viewers are like, “What is she talking about? Is this very much a visual component,” but yes the bed ladder is a nice one and it’s low cost and it’s like something you can pop on when you need it and get rid of it when you don’t. So, it’s a really nice one for that. Wedge and positional pillows. Don’t sleep on them — I mean, do sleep on them, that’s the whole point. [Laughs] But like, a good wedge is so great and they’re only like $50, you can buy a great wedge that’s multi-positional that has like a little extra piece that allows you to have even more variability in height. Very low cost, excellent solution for greater comfort, and make it easier to get in and out if you’re dealing with things like back or neck or shoulder issues.

And then, you know, I like to consider the bedroom the place for dressing tools as well. And can I just like, say one more time and I’m sure I’ve said it a thousand times on my social media platform, the Juvo — J-U-V-O — dressing stick is where it’s at. Like, this thing has a long-handled shoehorn, it’s got its rubberized tip on the dressing stick and so it’s nice and soft. You don’t have to worry about tearing skin by accident, like the old school dressing sticks were like metal and crazy, or plastic. This is a really great product. I love it, I have videos on it and I’m just, I’m a big fan. Button pulls, zipper pulls, all that good stuff, you know, I include all that in the bedroom.

56:11 Cheryl:       Yes, yes. And so, the button tools and zipper pulls are gadgets that help you get dressed with clothes with buttons or zippers. Of course, the workaround is, like most people who I’ve talked to with arthritis have figured out, they’re like, “Wait. I could also just get like looser fitting clothes it doesn’t have — that don’t have zippers,” you know?

56:30 Lindsay:     But have you seen — I am actually going to be sent in the next few weeks, hopefully, a newer version — they’re a button cover that goes on to the buttons that makes, turns the magnetic. So, I’m —

56:43 Cheryl:       Yep, I have — I got sent those as well. Buttons to button. Yeah, and the woman who invented them, her dad had Parkinson’s and that’s why she invented them but then she realized that it would help with arthritis. Those are great. Yeah, they —

56:56 Lindsay:     Yeah, she’s modifying them. She’s making a new version, so, I met her this weekend.

57:00 Cheryl:       Oh, that’s really exciting. No, that’s so great I mean bras are a big one. Again, we could do a whole episode just on dressing. I know a couple of people working on like, magnetic closures for bras which I do think would be a huge game changer because it’s just, it can be very, very difficult. So, you know, figuring out if you can — you know, a simple workaround for a lot of people have a hard time reaching in the back would be like literally taking the same bra that you have and just closing it in the front and twisting it to get around. Or, I really like ones that that clasp and in the front but then the problem is that I’ve had costochondritis before which is inflammation where the rubber meets the sternum, your chest, and then that can dig in. So, I also — I have a smaller chest so it’s easier for me to sometimes just have one of those like shelf tanks that’s just, you know, just a tank top that’s not — it has kind of like a little bit of an extra padding but not a full bra, or just like a stretchy kind of like a sports bra material that doesn’t dig in.

57:54 Lindsay:     Yeah. I’ve done a lot of bra work and I can say that no two people experience bra management the same way. It’s a really tough one to have like one solution for obviously, because everyone has a different comfort level with how they wear bras and where they wear — some people are just like, “I’ll just go braless. I’m good. I’ll just go,” and like, that’s great.

58:16 Cheryl:       I do that a lot too. But not a lot of — not a lot of people can do that just for work reasons or whatnot, but yeah, no, that’s true. It’s no one size. It’s like shoes, you know, it’s gonna be different.

58:24 Lindsay:     But shoes come a long way too, if you see the Kizik’s and the Nikes got the new step-in shoes. I’m really excited to see these. And then there’s like a new zipper gadget I’ve been seeing that’s like a magnetic zipper so you don’t have to actually line it up with the closure, it magnetizes itself to the closure. I have to look at the brand. It starts with an A.

58:41 Cheryl:       I’ve heard of that, I’ve heard of that. This is so — this is like this is how OT’s get our kicks. We’re sitting here, and we’re like oh, my gosh, it’s like people talking about celebrity gossip. We’re like, so excited.

58:52 Lindsay:     So excited. Yes, exactly.

58:56 Cheryl:       The one thing I have on my shopping list, my Christmas shopping list, that I haven’t tried yet, I’m curious if you’ve tried. One of the things that’s really hard is putting a fitted bed sheet on the mattress. Have you tried those things that they’re like shaped kind of like a triangle and they are a wedge, a plastic wedge, that you put in between the mattress and either the bed frame or the box spring. And then it kind of positions it so that it’s easier to get the fitted sheet around.

59:21 Lindsay:     I have not actually tried those before. I saw one for the first time like maybe two weeks ago because I had somebody actually message me about fitted sheet management and I started digging into the fitted sheet stuff. I actually tried the clips that like are — that are — span the distance between the corners. I did not like them at all. I understand their purpose but from a — they work really well to hold it in position but to actually manage them, they use like the same clips as you’d see on like a pair of suspenders. The physical requirements of managing all that was far too high.

And this is pulling the curtain back on EquipMeOT. I order probably 50% more items than I actually show because I always try stuff and I try it with like one hand tied behind — I try it with every way I actually refer to my grand — I take it to my grandma’s house and she and I try it together because she has several stuff and I don’t share it unless I’m actually certain it could help somebody.

1:00:16 Cheryl:   No, that’s such good integrity and I do the same thing. And although I will occasionally share something that I haven’t used but I have it on good authority from someone else that I trust. You know, actually there’s one that I put from you, one of the weightlifting things, because I was like, I really don’t think I’m going to use this but I, you know, I would say that okay, here’s somebody who’s worked with other patients that this would work for. Or somebody who has used it themself and found it useful.

Because, like you said, sometimes what works for one doesn’t work for another. Like, I really don’t like electronic hand massagers. Like, some people love them like the ones where you put your finger — I hate that idea because I like being in control. But I’ve gotten actual massages before. Even with those, I don’t like them on my hands. So, to me, I’m like there’s no use in me getting that for myself, but other people are like, swear by them. So, yeah. 

1:01:01 Lindsay: It’s like a weighted blankets. Weighted blankets. I’m very averse to weighted blankets. I find them to be suffocating and I get very claustrophobic, so when they’re all the rage and everybody, especially in the OT community, loves them for sensory integration and all of this, and I like put one on and I was like, nope. Nope. Nope.

1:01:17 Cheryl:   That’s interesting. Yeah, yeah, I see. I am claustrophobic but it’s, again, it’s about control. So, if I have control over it, I don’t mind just taking it off. But yeah, so it’s individual and so, just as we start kind of wrapping up a little bit, there’s also the last kind of room I was, we were thinking about, is the living rooms and dining rooms in terms of like couches. And I know you have thoughts on like lazy boy recliner type chairs, what do you want to say about those?

1:01:44 Lindsay: Literally, my first bullet point here is just the power assist reclining chair. So, this is — I posted about it, I got a ton of feedback on it. And it’s really interesting because about half the feedback was from therapists. So, people who are in the healthcare community. And half the people were users of the products. And so, I got — and it was a complete 50/50 split on what they thought of it.

Therapists were like pretty much ‘We don’t like them’. And the users were like ‘We loved them’. And so, there in it lies the complicating factor. As a therapist, we see them sometimes as a limiter because people will use them too much, they will rely on them too much and they will get weak. So, just to give an image for your viewers, a sit to stand recliner will actually lift you up into that standing position if you so need it. What I always say is, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, for lack of a better phrase.

If you’re going to tell people that they can’t use a product because you don’t trust that they’re going to use it properly, then you’re just missing the point of educating. If we tell somebody, “Okay, you’re having a good day, don’t use the lift feature. You know, try to stand under your own power. Don’t use the lift feature if you don’t absolutely need it. But if you’re having a crummy day, or you are recovering from surgery, or you’re having — use that lift feature to save that energy, save yourself the struggle, and that’s okay.” I think therapists tend to get too bogged down in the therapeutic approach, which is to build you back and make you stronger. But we lose sight of like the day-to-day existence.

And I think, working in home care, I realize, in home health, we forget what it looks like at home when these people are alone without the supports, without the verbal cueing, without all of this. And they just need life to be a little easier sometimes. And that’s okay. So, that’s where I stand on the power assist recliners. I love them. Trendelenburg setting is a great setting that’s available on these chairs, which allows you to get completely flat with your legs above your heart.

So, our POTS, people who suffer from POTS and other things that cause significant hypotension, this allows you to get your blood pressure up in a pinch. People with spinal cord injuries, this huge to be able to get that elevated foot position. This is the only option for a lot of people. So, I do not completely throw away power assist recliners. I think they have a ton of value for a lot of people.

1:03:51 Cheryl:   No, I think your reasoning makes 100% sense for me. It reminds me a lot of the debate of what they call, like, baby containers like, “Oh, you know, don’t get a Bumbo seat again. Because if you overuse it, it’s bad for the kid.” Okay, yes, of course, if you overuse it, it is bad. But if the mother just needs to put the baby down for five minutes and get like a mental break, and yeah, ideally, putting them on a flat surface is the best, but if they’re safe enough, if they’re at the safe age to use a Bumbo chair, like it’s very — it’s like almost like a privilege thing for a therapist to come in and be like, “You shouldn’t be doing that because you should be doing the 100% right thing all the time”. It’s like, what is the point? Like, we’re trying to help people live their actual lives, not like adhere to some standard of perfection that doesn’t really exist anyway. So, yeah.

1:04:38 Lindsay: Completely agree. So, there are alternatives to power assist recliners if it’s out of your budget or it’s just not something you feel like you need right away. Simply building up an elevated — you can buy furniture lifts that go up underneath the feet to just elevate. I’m a big fan of — I buy these high-density foam cushions off of Amazon. You just look up ‘wheelchair cushion’. It’s like the cheapest, most basic wheelchair cushion you can buy.

It gives you two-and-a-half or two inches of good lift on a solid surface and you can slide that puppy right underneath a couch cushion without even seeing it and it will provide just a little bit of lift. So when, for example, my grandmother visits, I know which chair she’s going to sit in at my house and I slide that high density foam cushion underneath the cushion. She doesn’t even know it’s there. She doesn’t know I’ve modified anything. And it works great.

And it also works on dining room chairs as well to give you extra lift just to make it a little easier to get up and down in addition to having hand rests, which I always recommend on your dining room chairs. The other one that I tried is the Able tray. So, this was a cool one that actually mounts underneath the seat. The weight of the chair itself holds it in position and then it has a swivel table that goes back and forth. I installed it for a video and continue to use it every single day. We absolutely love it at our house.

1:05:47 Cheryl:   That’s so great. And I like that, I’m glad you mentioned about the armrests for chairs because yeah, I’ve been looking at barstools like you mentioned earlier and the kitchen chairs. And, you know, it’s so easy to get swept up into the aesthetics, you know. And I mean, obviously you want an all-in-one, right? You want something that’s aesthetically pleasing but also functional for you. And yeah, having, for me, also from a fatigue standpoint, having a backrest is really big. Like, so even though I like the look of some of the backless barstools, you know, I’m definitely going to get them with a back and then with the foot rest as well.

And so, yeah, just, you know, thinking about that, when you’re, you know, when you’re in a position to be making those choices about, you know, you’re getting a new dining room set or something, thinking about how you can, you know, build in those tools like that are there for a difficult day. And I was gonna say something else, I totally forgot.

1:06:41 Lindsay: And then another one is round tables. So, I’m a big fan of round tables with centrally based supports instead of tables that have multiple legs that stick in. It just gives you a lot more flexibility of positioning if you were ever in a position where you had to actually wheel up to a table, or perhaps you had to bring in chairs that were slightly larger with the armrests.

You have a lot of flexibility with a round table and a centralized one. It also takes up less floor space, allowing you to have that open concept floor plan as much as possible. And the living and dining room areas are places where people often get a little bit cluttered with their space. And if you can consider the amount of furniture and like the type of floor plan you have laid out so that you have that ability to traverse the space cleanly with a walker, with a wheelchair, just kind of thinking it through in that way ahead of time so you don’t overfill a space, so that then you’re having to remove furniture in the future, which can be really frustrating for people.

1:07:33 Cheryl:   I love that. So, building in. Yeah, it’s like, you know, plan for the best, but prepare for the worst. I think that’s kind of a great overall tip. I have another question. Was there anything else you wanted to say about the living room and dining room, though?

1:07:47 Lindsay:     No, go ahead.

1:07:48 Cheryl:   We’re so efficient, we’re covering so much. And this is something I didn’t prepare you for some, just we can just have a little discussion on it. But so, a lot of — you know, I was diagnosed I was 21. And a lot of my listeners and audience on social media and on the podcast are younger than is what then people typically think of when I think about grab bars and adaptive equipment. And there can be like a lot of shame around using a walker or using a mobility aid of any kind, a wheelchair, or using any of the aids we’ve talked about today. Even using, some people feel like emotional about having to use, let’s say even an adaptive knife, you know. And so, do you have any advice for people or any thoughts on the shame that they might experience around — or mental barriers to using any of these kind of adaptive equipment pieces?

1:08:37 Lindsay: Absolutely. And I’ve seen this a lot. I see it in the resistance to use things that they know would help and I respect it immensely. I never, as a therapist, I never pressured anyone to use a piece of equipment they were uncomfortable with, even if I was very convinced it would make a difference for them.

It is as much of an emotional process as it as a physical one. And I know you know all of this. And so, providing resources. And that — honestly, the creation of EquipMeOT, the YouTube channel, was much more based on like just getting information to people. The Instagram channel and the reels, I’ve tried to take a little bit more of a light hearted, kind of playful approach with it because my goal is to demystify and to just be like, “Hey guys, this stuff exists. I think it’s cool.” I’m not by any means trying to be an influencer of it, but I just want to make people aware that stuff exists, and it’s darn right okay to use it.

It’s okay to ask questions about it. It’s even okay to question that it needs to exist. And I’m open to all those areas of conversation as long as it’s respectful and obviously the Internet can be a rather disrespectful place at times. But I would hope that between, you know, efforts like yourself, and I would hope that I can be an ally as well and other allies that exist out in these social media platforms which are predominantly used by young people, we can kind of open this conversation and be like, we are all using different things to get through the day, whether that’s to cope with mental health issues, whether that’s to cope with physical health issues, whether it’s just to cope with life, you know, we all use different things. And a physical modality, a physical piece of equipment is simply just another one of those resources. It’s a support. And that’s it.

A good diet, an exercise routine, they all should be looked at in the exact same way that we look at a physical adaptation or modification. And I would hope that the generations to come are going to enter into a world that’s a lot more open to this than the generations before. Because I know that that it makes a difference just to see it being used in a public space makes a difference.

1:10:42 Cheryl:   No, perfectly said. And, you know, I think, I hope that the other — I hope that there are some occupational therapists listening, because I think we can get very like myopic about things being like, “Well, why don’t they just use the tool?” You know, it’s like, again, with my background in pediatrics, it’d be like, “Well, why aren’t — I gave the kid a pencil grip? Why aren’t they using it?” Because they don’t want to look different than their peers. Because, like, fitting in with their peers is important to them, or, you know, there’s many different reasons people don’t want to use equipment.

So, you know, for me, it’s like, I have that, like, no shame gene in me. Like, where I’m like, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo, you know, I’ve always been like that. And that’s just my personality. So, for me, I don’t even realize — I didn’t even think about, that it would be empowering for someone else to see a video of me using equipment. I was just like, “Hey, this is so cool. Look at my cool life,” you know? Pay attention to me. No, just kidding.

1:11:32 Lindsay: No, but that’s just — and, you know, I just, I mentioned earlier, when my daughter broke her arm, and she’s four. And I was such an attention-seeking child that the idea of having a cast would have just thrilled me to no end because I’d be like, “Look at me with my cast! I’m so —“ And so, you know, it made me stand out. Well, she’s very introverted and rather private by nature and watching her really have to cope with being different than her peers for a little while, it’s another like, in the face of like, we experience the world so differently, each and every one of us.

And so, to assume that I can throw a piece of equipment, another — because, you know, so many people get so much equipment shoved in their faces. And I learned this going from acute care. I started out in acute care, and then I transitioned to home health. And I tell you, I would just like pat myself on the back with all that great equipment I recommended and sent home with these patients. And then I transitioned to home health, and you know where I found most of that equipment? Their garage.

1:12:23 Cheryl:   The garage, yeah.

1:12:26 Lindsay: It wasn’t being used. 

1:12:27 Cheryl:   Gathering dust. 

1:12:28 Lindsay: And most of it was because they didn’t know how to or didn’t want to. But some of it was shame. Some of it was just like, complete distrust of the medical system. And so, there’s so many reasons and so many reasons why we have to be out here, just kind of like, let’s have an open conversation. And that’s where we can start.

1:12:42 Cheryl:   Yeah, no, that’s so, so true. And I think another one is, and this is just going deeper into OT, but you know, integrating something into someones, you know, in the OT practice framework; habits, roles and routines. Like, it takes time to get something into your routine, unless it’s like physically attached to you. You know, like if I put on a compression glove, it’s easy. I guess I have it as part of my routine to remember to put it on. But it’s — but there’s other things like — the key wing key grip, it’s on the key so I can remember.

But a lot of times I just forget to use things because I’m just in my little, my normal routine. So, it takes time to change routines, even if you want to use a new piece of equipment. So, yeah, I just think, yeah, it’s a good reminder to everyone that if you’re struggling with shame around having to use a device, you know, that you’re not alone and, you know, something that it’s come up a lot in my Rheum to THRIVE support group for people with rheumatic diseases is internalized ableism.

So, ’cause we go one layer below shame. Let’s say, okay, I got recommended this adaptive knife. The knife looks different than a quote-unquote ‘normal’ or typical knife and I don’t want to use it. Why? I’m ashamed to use that. Why is that? Because I think it makes me weaker than someone else. Why is it worse to be weaker than someone else? Like, we all have individual differences like, I can’t run as fast as some people, I’m faster than a lot of other people, but it’s like, oh, well, I’ve been socialized to think that having a disability means you’re less than. It means that you’re — that in being weaker is always worse, you know.

And it’s like you kinda have to go deeper into it and realize that like — and this is gonna sound maybe a little bit too like, kumbaya or whatnot. But it’s like, you are, at some point, it’s up to you to kind of understand that you are worthy of love, and you are worthy of functioning the best that you possibly can. And if you decide that, you know, that you’d rather use a different knife for whatever reason, that’s fine, but that, you know, I would encourage people not to deny themselves opportunity to use something that might make their life a lot more comfortable, just because of shame. Because that is a — shame to some degree is going to be — I always separate some things into solvable problems and perpetual problems, and to some degree, shame can be a solvable problem. If you examine your internalized ableism and are able to, you know, kind of fight against it, then you can potentially reframe your attitude towards towards — again, it’s not easy. But um, that’s kind of my take on it.

1:15:16 Lindsay: Yeah, it’s doable. Yeah, I think that’s beautiful, I think. And like I said earlier, the balance in life being that we all have things we have to do every day that you just got to put up with and finish to get through the day. And then we have things we want to do in life and we have to stop trading off and being like — the Spoon Theory. I love the spoons, that example. It’s like, if you’re using every last spoon you have on things that just have to get done every day, what a miserable way to live, you know.

And if we can, as OT’s and as people who are well versed in this, can give you a little bit of a push to save you one or two spoons so that you can do the things that bring so much positive value to your life and your mental health. I mean, that’s amazing. That’s what drives me to do what I do. That’s the only reason I do what I do, you know? I don’t care if you use the tool. What I do care about is did it save you enough steam so that you could do something you truly have a passion for or care about? Because so many people give up on that stuff and it’s so hard to watch.

1:16:15 Cheryl:   No and it really reminds me of the old occupational therapy tagline from the American Occupational Therapy Association which was ‘Tools for the —’ wasn’t it ‘Tools for the job of living’?

1:16:26 Lindsay: ‘Tools for the job of living’, yeah,

1:16:28 Cheryl:   That’s so beautiful too. Yeah, thank you so much. This is so helpful. Was there anything else? I mean, of course, I feel like we already need to do a follow up episode because one of the things I was gonna ask you if we had time would be about like work tools, tools for the job, but that could be, again, a whole episode. But is there anything else you want to say? I felt that was such a beautiful note to end on but didn’t want to deny you.

1:16:50 Lindsay: No, no, I’m so I’m so happy with it. I think, yeah, I love the idea of being able to continue to reach people, and honestly answer the questions that people have because I can’t create all of the scenarios that we respond to as therapists so I love hearing what things people are needing help with. So, you know, I do extend myself to your listeners that, you know, if you ever have questions or issues that you have specific questions on, I’m a human being with a listening ear and love to answer those questions, so feel free to ask.

1:17:23 Cheryl:   That’s so great. Thank you again.

1:17:25 Lindsay: My pleasure.

[Ending music]

Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. This episode is brought to you by Rheum to THRIVE, a membership and support community where you’ll learn how to develop your own THRIVE toolbox so you can live a full life despite your rheumatic disease or chronic illness. Learn more in the show notes, or by going to www.myarthritislife.net. You can also connect with me on my social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and even TikTok. Check out the links in the show notes.