Help in the Kitchen for Folk with Arthritis

Even if you don’t carry out most of the cooking in the house, you’ll probably be using it now and again. To minimise pain for arthritis sufferers, it’s important that any appliances are as user friendly as possible. If you sit at the sink or the kitchen counter, you might think of having a high stool that allows you to sit comfortably. Of course, you could also adjust the height of the counter, either by raising it, or having it lowered, for someone using a wheelchair, for example.

In certain circumstances, other appliances such as a stove can be adjusted for height. Cupboards can be made easier to use by getting handles that are easier to hold, and/or by raising or lowering them. Although my sister doesn’t suffer from arthritis, I noticed that she had one of those revolving shelves, and I thought that they could be a real boon. If you don’t happen to have them, your best bet is to arrange your utensils and foodstuffs so that the heaviest and the ones you use most are nearest.

What might seem trivial to those who don’t have arthritis can be a real problem for the sufferer. For those whose hands are affected, opening cans and jars are often daunting tasks. Nowadays, there are electric can openers, stationary jar openers that are fixed to the wall, rubber grips that fit screw tops to make them easier to open, and gadgets that adjust to fit all sizes of tops and caps to revove them with lever action. You’ll also find grabbers for the tabs on drink cans, and of course the faithful pliers.

I alluded to hard-to-hold tools and utensils in an earlier post. For turning taps, as well as pipe insulation and bubble wrap, you could have foam or rubber tubing, which can be cut to the required length, with centre holes of different diameters. Dish towels and washcloths can come in very handy as well. There are also tap turners available to buy, and they come in different shapes, sizes, and designs to fit over any type of tap.

You have to fork out some cash if you want to have three appliances that are in most households nowadays—a food processor, a microwave oven, and a dishwasher. The processor, of course, saves times (and eliminates needless pain) with chopping, dicing etc, and the microwave is handy in so many ways, not least in that no pans are required. If you do have a conventional oven, though, maybe you should invest in lightweight pots and dishes. Ironically, the dishwasher, although very useful, is shunned by many folk, who reckon that the warm water used in manual dishwashing is excellent therapy for the hands.