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Imagine trying to rear three children without full use of your hands. That was the predicament Jane Jones was in when she met Carla Blue, an occupational therapist at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Jones* was so debilitated by rheumatoid arthritis that she had trouble opening jars to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She could barely turn the key to start her car engine. Using a doorknob triggered severe pain. "This is a mom who essentially was not able to take care of her children," says Blue. "She needed assistance not only with her self-care but also being able to run a household."
Drawing on her 19 years as a certified hand therapist, Blue reached into the burgeoning sea of assistive devices and fished out a number of items that have made Jones's life close to normal. A Zim jar opener, which fits under a kitchen counter, enables Jones to open jars using her shoulders rather than her inflamed finger joints. Jones replaced doorknobs on her bedroom, bathroom and front doors with levers that she easily pushes down with her forearm. A specially designed key holder enables Jones to press a lever rather than turn a key to start her car. Blue also introduced Jones to writing utensils with built-up grips.
While many assistive devices for arthritics were invented in basement workshops, sale of these gadgets is no mere cottage industry. Costing a few dollars to several thousand dollars apiece, these innovations fuel a multimillion-dollar-a-year industry.
Unfortunately, the assistive-device landscape is peppered with items that are useless or inappropriate for people with arthritis. So ThirdAge.com asked occupational therapists and other experts from around the country to pick the coolest tools for arthritis sufferers and to name their favorite catalogs and Web sites that sell these products.
*Jane Jones's real name was changed to protect her privacy.
Next: Best of the Cool Tools >
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