one-armed help

[sara]

can anyone help me find a website to makes things easier in a one armed world, its hard to button my pants, t spread peanut butter on a piece of bread, and i work at a computer and it takes forever, any help would be greatly appreciated

[cbr9]

i'd have to say that you have found the best place to find your answers. i'm sure i speak for all tbpi's when i say, any questions you have, just ask here on the forum, and we would be pleased to help others experiencing the same difficulties. as for the p.butter spreading, i usually put the bread slice up against the jar to hold it still, well, somewhat still.
my regards
Denny, Vancouver, B.C.

[bigsel]

Sara, the best thing you could do is get a book called "One Handed In a Two Handed World" by Tommye-Karen Mayer, & you will probably get it at Amazon books on the internet, it gives tips on everything a one handed person needs to learn. It must be the best thing I bought since my accident. goodluck.
bigsel
Scottish tbpi

[admin]

Sara,

There is a book for people with disabilities called Adaptability. It is mostly for people in wheel chairs, but does have a lot of useful things for people with just one arm. They have a rocker knife that helps cut steak, a triangle type thing that sets on the counter top that holds the bread in place, a cutting board with a nail in it so when you are cutting things it doesn't slide around and also have a button helper, which I think was designed for buttoning the cuff on your good arm, but should work on pants. These are just a few of the things I ordered for my son that helped him a lot. He has been hurt 9 years now and still uses these things all the time. Some of other things I ordered he found more of a pain than useful. I was quite amazed when my son got hurt how the therapists didn't have a clue about books or tools to make life easier. I made it my mission and went through a 1-800 catalog at the library and found this book Adaptability. If you can't find the number to order one I probably can find one laying around the house so email me if you want the number and I'll look for it.

[admin]

That’s an issue. I am always thinking in get my situation better. Because my English is pour (I am Portuguese) I try to put on my web site some updates (http://www.geocities.com/paulo_go ), when I can.
As I have a shoulder fusion, now I am wearing a brace (hand made by ortho specialists) in the arm who permits: Protect bones against chokes; have the hand in a more natural position; lock the elbow in various positions; have a black cool Robocop thing in my arm (!); and, every person I contact don’t have to ask if I have any problem with the arm, they just see…and I sure that some day I will be back on the road…eheh
I don’t put yet the pics on the site, but I will.

See you
Paulo G

[PamelaW]

Hi Sara,

I posted a few minutes ago, but forgot to log in so it will come on as a guest and I have found sometimes that takes a few days. Since I posted earlier and mentioned all the things I bought for my son when he was originally hurt I have dug through the house to find some of the catalogs I have. As I mentioned in my guest post none of the occupational therapists seemed to know much of anything about helping a person with just one arm. They had no clue where to find catalogs or what they needed so I made it my mission to find all of the things to make my sons life easier.

I have the 1-800 number of a couple of catalogs, one is Enrichment at 1-800-323-5547 and the other is Functional Solutions at 1-800-634-4351. Adaptability is another good catalog, but I can't find one to give you the number. Just a few of the things I ordered for him and he has now been using for 9 years is a rocker knife to cut steak, a cutting board with stainless steel nails to hold the fruits and veggies in place, a jar opener that mounts under the cupboard, the spreadboard, which is a plastic thing that sets on the edge of the cupboard and holds bread in place for spreading and also a button puller which I bought so he could button the cuff on his good arm. I notice now they have a zipper puller, which he could use because I know he wrecks zippers. Another really useful thing I got him out of one of these catalogs, but now they sell them everywhere is one of those things that hang on the shower wall to put your shampoo and cream rinse in. I had noticed that we were going through a lot of shampoo and cream rinse so I asked him about it and he said well he could only hold it above his head and squirt and sometimes he got way too much. I ordered him a lot of other things that I don't think he uses to much, but the things I mentioned above he has used and used.

[Paolo]

Hi Sara,
try these:

www.sammonspreston.com
http://dynamic-living.com/singlehanded.htm
www.wisent.com/products.htm

Paolo

[lizzyb]

Hiya

THE most useful thing I have ever found is BLUtack...I don't know what it is called in the U.S; it's putty-like and is usually used to stick posters on walls without leaving a mark when the poster is removed (sometimes!)

I use it to hold so many things, too many to list, but here are a few suggestions; A little blob of it in your purse or bag can help a lot if you have to sign a cheque or receipt in a shop..just stick down one corner of the cheque to immobilise it. I've used it to hold needles while I thread them, pots of yoghurt to stop 'em skidding all over the place (Dycem matting is good, but this is better..)and for holding a nail file to do me nails...there are many more uses, I'm sure you can think of some.

Best wishes

Liz

[admin]

Spring clamps, like outdoor market stall holders use to stop their covers blowing away. What you can't do with these things isn't worth writing about. For more delicate work: clothespegs. If you have a new kitchen built, make sure it has a 1" overhang for your clamps. You can also buy plastic clamps at tool shops that can be washed, so you can have separate clamps for food.

Any engineers out there ? Try using a steel topped workbench. Then you can hold everything down with a clamp, and jig it up properly using big magnets.

Dycem, obviously, but have you seen the stuff with the little holes in it, like a sticky net ? You can use it in the sink, because when it's wet it's not as slippery as Dycem.

Are you Right BPI? There's a brilliant shop in the UK that does mail order and web-order for people using their left hands. Check out anythingleft-handed.co.uk

[Tessie258]

We happened on this one on accident but p-nut butter is really liquid when hot!! It pours right out of the jar!! I've often wondered about putting p-nut butter in a squeeze bottle and microwaving...experimenting!!! But I haven't really pursued it because I'm allergic to p-nut butter...but Jameson loves it...He usually just eats it by the spoonful!!
Jameson has good use of his fingers so he usually presses his arm against the wall to button shirts and pants.
He takes his socks off with his toes....hmmm...he has so many tricks. The one he doesn't do well is his tie for church....but a friend just recently told me about a tie with a zipper...anyone seen one of those?
T.