The Seated View

The Arthritis Foundation is currently accepting nominations for their User's Choice Awards . These awards will be giving out to products and services that work well for people living with arthritis.Categories include cell phone, weight management, car, hotel, health plan and so on. Nominations are open until Sunday, October 21, so hop on over and nominate your choices !   

    This week, I got super practical on HealthCentral: "For some, it's the jar that might as well have a padlock. For others, it's the childproof cap on a prescription bottle standing between them and relief of pain. Then there is the keyboard that makes your wrists hurt, scissors that cause the base joint in your thumb to be unusable and the list is endless. When you have rheumatoid arthritis, interacting with objects in your home, garden and office can be frustrating and painful. This post will feature products and places that can make your life easier." You can read the rest here .    

     The Arthritis Foundation’s Ease-of-Use Commendation recognizes products proven to make life easier for people who have arthritis and other physical limitations. These products are independently tested by experts and evaluated by people with arthritis. I have been asked to review a number of Ease-of-Use products during May, Arthritis Awareness Month in the US . My mother, who has osteoarthritis in her hands, is helping by testing some of these products, as well.   The SmartGlove by IMAK is designed to offer "carpal tunnel support," as well as easing hand fatigue, tendinitis and arthritis. According to the box, it is designed by an orthopedic surgeon. The glove comes oriented to fit your right hand, but can be turned inside out to be used for the left hand. There is a built-in flexible support splint running along the top of the glove from knuckles to wrist and something called "massaging ErgoBeads" located where your carpal tunnel area is. ErgoBea...

   The Arthritis Foundation’s Ease-of-Use Commendation recognizes products proven to make life easier for people who have arthritis and other physical limitations. These products are independently tested by experts and evaluated by people with arthritis. I have been asked to review a number of Ease-of-Use products during May, Arthritis Awareness Month in the US . My mother, who has osteoarthritis in her hands, is helping by testing some of these products, as well.   The Clarity D714 Amplified Cordless Phone seems to have a nickname. On the box, it says in large, clear letters Loud & Simple. And it certainly seems to live up its billing. The D714 is an amplified cordless phone with large buttons and is designed specifically for people with hearing loss, low vision and mobility issues. It amplifies incoming sounds 20 times louder than standard home phones. The base includes an answering machine. We were not able to fully test this phone. It needed to ...

   As you may have noticed, this week is a little heavy on Ease of Use review. I made a commitment to post these before the end of the month and miscellaneous life events got in the way of a more even distribution. Hang in there. We return to your regularly scheduled program on Friday.   The Arthritis Foundation’s Ease-of-Use Commendation recognizes products proven to make life easier for people who have arthritis and other physical limitations. These products are independently tested by experts and evaluated by people with arthritis. I have been asked to review a number of Ease-of-Use products during May, Arthritis Awareness Month in the US . My mother, who has osteoarthritis in her hands, is helping by testing some of these products, as well.   When I first started the background research for the scissors, I found this on the Fiskars website : "The Original Orange-Handled Scissors. Introduced to the world first as a quality fabric scissors, the sc...

    The Arthritis Foundation’s Ease-of-Use Commendation recognizes products proven to make life easier for people who have arthritis and other physical limitations. These products are independently tested by experts and evaluated by people with arthritis. I have been asked to review a number of Ease-of-Use products during May, Arthritis Awareness Month in the US . My mother, who has osteoarthritis in her hands, is helping by testing some of these products, as well.   When I first saw the DuoGlide Chef’s Knife , I was reminded of the great quote from Crocodile Dundee : " that's not a knife … that’s a knife .” Big knives make me nervous and I am very grateful that I have attendants who take care of the cutting and chopping for me. Since my mother cooks, she was the natural candidate to test the knife. The product description tells us that this knife has a unique design for more control and minimized effort. The handle is soft and textured, giving an...

    The Arthritis Foundation’s Ease-of-Use Commendation recognizes products proven to make life easier for people who have arthritis and other physical limitations. These products are independently tested by experts and evaluated by people with arthritis. I have been asked to review a number of Ease-of-Use products during May, Arthritis Awareness Month in the US . My mother, who has osteoarthritis in her hands, is helping by testing some of these products, as well.   The full name of this product is called the Tramontina All Generations10”Covered Sauté Pan - Porcelain Enamel Nonstick. Which is a bit of a mouthful, but it is a very high quality product which entitles it to toot its own horn. The details of this product according to the packaging are as follows: it has larger handles for a comfortable grip, which along with the lid fixtures have a soft-grip black silicone grip, making it easier to… erm, grip. The handle is also larger, allowing for more ...

    The Arthritis Foundation’s Ease-of-Use Commendation recognizes products proven to make life easier for people who have arthritis and other physical limitations. These products are independently tested by experts and evaluated by people with arthritis. I have been asked to review a number of Ease-of-Use products during May, Arthritis Awareness Month in the US . My mother, who has moderate osteoarthritis in her hands, is helping by testing some of these products, as well.   Have you ever get bested by a bottle of prescription medication? Y’know the childproof ones that require you to hold the cap down and turn at the same time. I've never been able to open those. And there you are, pain shooting into the stratosphere, the meds that can help you so near, yet so far away. Wouldn't it be nice if someone invented a bottle for prescription medication that was easier to use? Well, someone has. More specifically, Rexam developed the 1-Clic Packaging System ...

   This is the first post in a new series on helpful tools and doodads for people with RA and disability.   When we first came to Canada 30 years ago, I brought a reacher with me. It was a terrific reacher - lightweight, elegant and easy to use. During my time in Canada, I've had a number of occupational therapists in my home and they have always collapsed in swoons about this particular reacher. Why? Because it is designed to hold closed. This was new to them because in North America, reachers are designed in such a way that you have to squeeze the handle shut in order to close the tongs at the other end. This is difficult to describe, so I took some pictures. First, my trusty 30-year-old reacher from Denmark. As you can see, this reacher is also in two pieces. It was a terrific piece of equipment, sturdy and durable. It gave me 30 years of frequent, sometimes daily use, picking up pieces of paper, pens, food containers, fruit and everything else y...