31 May 2009

The Disabled Can Benefit From Walk-In Tubs

By Bob Ranold

Walk-in tubs and showers have become very popular. While there is really nothing with the current baths and tubs that we know of, there is a sizeable section of the population that has a problem cannot use them like the rest of us do. Take senior citizens for instance. Many are afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis which is a crippling disease that causes the inflammation of joints and severely limits movement. It affects mostly the joints causing painful swelling and even loss of mobility. The actual cause of arthritis is unknown but its effects are nevertheless real and serious. Those who suffer from this crippling disease suffer from acute pain.

With crippled and swelling joints it is a painful exercise to get into the bathtub and then come out of it. But they can manage with some difficulty. What about people who are semi paralyzed? How do they use the regular one? It would be next to impossible for them to have bath in this bathtub.

How about a bathtub with a door in it that enables one to simply walk in? Although it looks like any other normal bathtub, it has a door in sideways that differentiates it from other regular ones. Now does it not resemble a car that has doors? It is designed so to ease a person from lifting his or her leg to get into the tub.

So all they need to do is simply walk in. There is a seat provided where they can sit comfortably and have their bath. Once the door is closed, the bathtub is completely sealed. It is designed to hold the water without any leakage and is airtight too. There is no way out for the water to flow through leakage. Although it sounds like normal bathing experience, the walk-in facility puts it apart from the other ordinary bathtubs.

Walk-in tubs and baths are very also ideal in assisted-living facilities where the elderly live. In the United States, these are also called nursing homes and they are used to care for elderly people many of whom are usually sick with arthritis. Many of these elderly citizens find it difficult to perform simple tasks such as getting in and out of a bath tub especially on their own.

Walk in tubs can be the right solution for such people who are elderly or in other words dependants. They depend on others to be lifted physically for having bath. With walk in tubs that would not be required.

In a regular tub, the process of getting in and out by lifting one leg could be dangerous especially to someone who has knee injury or back or hip injury. There was also the risk of stepping on a bar of soap and falling. There are may documented cases of these kinds of accidents in many homes especially where senior citizens live by themselves. The walk-in tub and bath is therefore a welcome convenience especially to those who are senior citizens plus it is cheap and easy to install. - 2456

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