Adaptive Equipment for Lower Body Dressing

For people with chronic back or hip pain, congestive heart failure or respiratory difficulties, bending over to put pants on can be a struggle. Many times I have shown my patients to sit and use a grabber (also called reacher) for this task. The grabber gives patients a few extra feet of reach so they can donn their pants without leaning too far forward. Last Fall I had a patient (90 year old woman with congestive heart failure) show ME how she successfully uses her cane rather than a store bought grabber. She used the curved end to hook her pants so they wouldn't fall while she reached down and sure enough was able to donn her pants! After a current patient of mine expressed to me that she did not have the funds to purchase a grabber, I remembered back to my 90 year old friend and shared the technique. She loved it.

Though I thoroughly believe grabbers can be helpful in much more than lower body dressing, I hope this post helps when considering the pragmatics of adaptive equipment training, as money can often be a barrier.