Not everyone with arthritis has problems getting dressed, regardless of how severe your arthritis is, you may need to make some changes in the way you dress, so here are a few tips to follow that can make those changes smooth and easy.
First, try to analyse which of your joints give you the most difficulty when dressing, especially in the morning, remember that the stiffness from arthritis may take more than an hour to pass when you wake in the morning and you don't want to wait that long to get dressed in the morning.
Changing the way you get dressed to work around those particular joints will make sure you won't get thrown off schedule, if your knees and hips are stiff in the morning, try sitting on the bed to put on your socks and shoes.
A further problem (for women) is that your shoulders may be 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.
If in the morning your stiffness is a little more severe, you may have to purchase different types of clothing, if lifting your arms causes problems then think about buying front closing shirts or blouses.
Avoid clothing with small buttons or hooks if your fingers give you trouble in the mornings, if you have a hard time bending, wear slip on shoes with Velcro closures and avoid heels.
Adaptive devices can also make dressing easier without having to buy special clothing. These have been around for many years, it used to be that this type of equipment could only be bought with the assistance of an occupational therapist who had access to a medical supplier.
Now, purchasing this type of equipment can be done directly by anyone, dozens of devices are easily available that can help just about any problem, an excellent source for these adaptive devices and clothing for arthritis is able2wear.co.uk
