Not every arthritis sufferer has problems getting themselves dressed.
Regardless of how severe your arthritis is, you may need to make some changes in the way you dress, so here are just a couple of hints and tips to make those changes smooth and easy.
Firstly, attempt to analyse which joints are causing you the most difficulty when dressing, especially in the morning, arthritis stiffness can take over an hour to go away after you get out of bed and you don't want to wait that long to get dressed, changing the way you get dressed to work around those particular joints will make sure you won't get thrown off schedule.
Next, decide if an easy adaptation will fix the problem, try sitting on the bed to put on your socks and shoes if your hips and knees are stiff in the morning, furthermore, a problem (for women) is that putting on your bra may be difficult if your shoulders are too stiff for you to reach around behind your back and hook your bra, if so, simply place your bra behind your back, hook it in front, then slide it around to the front and place your arms through the straps.
These are just a couple of examples of simple adaptations you can do at home with the clothing you have.
In the morning, if your arthritis is a little more severe, you may think about buying different types of clothing, if you have a hard time lifting your arms due to shoulder stiffness, buy front closing shirts or blouses.
If in the mornings your fingers suffer from arthritis stiffness, try to avoid clothing with small buttons or hooks.
If bending gives you a hard time then try to wear slip on shoes with Velcro straps and avoid wearing heels, adaptive devices, that have been around for many years, can make dressing much easier, before the Internet, you used to have to purchase these items with the assistance of an occupational therapist who had access to medical suppliers, now anyone can purchase these items directly.
Dozens of devices are easily available that can help just about any problem, adaptive devices and clothing for arthritis is available at able2wear.co.uk
