I am going to go out on a limb here and without doing any fact checking I will hazard a guess and say that most people enjoy being clean.  Taking a shower or bath is usually at least a weekly occurrence for most people in the United States, generally starting at a young age, even at birth.  One of the first things that will happen to a newborn is to be quickly cleaned up and presented to the mother.  After which are the years of baby bathing followed by years of using threats and parental force to get children into the bath tub, followed by the teenage/dating years that lead to using threats and parental force to get the teenagers out of the bathroom.

During the adult years, personal hygiene is important to attract friends and lovers and to not offend coworkers.  Most people think about the act of getting into the shower or bathtub as much as they think about getting in or out of bed, which usually takes little or no planning at all.  Hopping into the shower and standing under the hot spray or relaxing deep into the warm, soapy tub of water is easy, common, and a dutiful hygienic experience.

That is generally true, until people reach an elder age or suffer an accident or ailment which leaves them fearful and hesitant of the slippery shower floor or the barrier of the bathtub side.  An ever increasing number of people are becoming older and more infirm, unable to easily or safely bathe.  A 2011 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that hundreds of thousands of bathroom falls occur each year, with seniors suffering most of the serious injuries.  One of the primary areas in the bathroom where accidents occur are around the slippery, soapy floors of the shower or tub, combined with stepping over the wall of a bathtub or standing with weakened or injured legs in the shower.

Rehabmart can offer some innovative solutions with a couple of superior quality Maddak home healthcare products: The Rotating Shower Stool and the Sliding Rotating Transfer Shower Bench.

 

The Rotating Shower Stool is a conveniently sized stool for a shower stall or small space that can support up to 300 pounds.  This shower stool will provide safety and security for a person in the shower who cannot stand or will need to rest while showering.  The rotating part or swiveling action of the shower stool helps to free up movement while bathing, and will give a caregiver access to all areas of a patient's body.  This rotating shower stool will additionally assist with an easier transfer in and out of the shower.  A shower stool is a simple solution to assist an individual in decreasing painful and expensive slips and falls in the shower, proving that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the problems and pain of going to the hospital, and weeks or months of recovery.

 

The Sliding Rotating Transfer Shower Bench is another creative device to help eliminate slips and falls from stepping over the wall of a bathtub.  Almost everybody at some time in their life has had a quick and eye-opening experience of a slip when stepping over a bathtub wall and into warm soapy water with a slippery surface underneath.  When this happens, most people are able to catch themselves and stop the fall.  For people who have physical difficulty stepping over the bathtub wall, a quick little slide on the bathtub surface on the other side of the wall will most likely lead to them slipping and falling onto the hard and unforgiving surfaces of a bathroom floor. 

Kathleen Hanek, Director of Product Management for Maddak Inc., the U.S. manufacturer of Ableware Aids for Daily Living, explains, "The Sliding Rotating Transfer Bench is extremely helpful to people who have difficulty stepping over the wall of a bathtub. It has a long seating surface and is positioned with two legs in the tub and two legs outside. This allows you to sit down on the portion of the seat that is outside and safely transfer across the seat into the inside of the tub. The sliding feature enables you to move across the bench with very little effort, and the swivel seat allows for easier transfers into the tub and optimal accessibility for caregivers."

This transfer bench is height adjustable from 16 to 23 inches and has the exclusive quick-change leg design which makes adjusting the legs in ¼ inch increments very simple.  Some other amenities that come standard on this shower bench are the built-in soap tray, a slit for the shower curtain, and a shower spray holder for easy access.  Being able to hold 400 pounds, this shower bench is very strong and sturdy, and when not in use the legs, back and arms are all removable for easy storage.

Rotating shower stools and transfer shower benches are great for the elderly or people who have a lower extremity injury or disability that may prevent weight bearing on their legs.  The elimination of the fear of falling alone is reason enough for many people to want to own one. But experiencing the comfort of sitting down and relaxing while showering can help people feel both hygienically clean and give them back the life-long love affair of being in warm water, enjoying the natural pleasures and health benefits of simple water therapy.

Bill Stock
Executive Editor,
Content & Social Media Services
and
Hulet Smith, OT
Rehabmart Team Leader & CEO