Arthritis can change the way you relate to your home. Pain, stiffness, and decreased range of motion can make steps and turns you never thought twice about before feel like insurmountable obstacles. For the 58.5 million Americans (25% of adults) living with arthritis, home truly needs to feel like a soft place to land.
The good news is that not all home modifications for arthritis need to cost thousands of dollars. Simple switches and upgrades can make your home more functional by increasing accessibility, ease of use, and personal comfort. This guide to designing for arthritis is the perfect starting point.
Why Adapt Your Home for Arthritis?
Investing in arthritis adaptations for your home is an investment in your well-being. It can also be a smart financial choice. First, you simply deserve an environment that feels comfortable and safe. Small changes that allow you to safely navigate your home can prevent injuries and falls that can be devastating to your quality of life.
Home modifications for arthritis also allow you to maintain your independence. By creating a space that’s functional based on your unique needs, you can continue to handle household tasks and personal care with confidence.
Finally, investing a little bit of money into making arthritis-friendly modifications in your home enables you to stay in a familiar home that you love. This can be far less expensive than moving to or building a new home or pivoting to an assisted living setting.
Enhances Your Everyday Life
The frustration of living in a home that feels like it’s not meant for your body robs you of your self-worth, motivation, and ability to live the way you want. With the right improvements, you can move through your home more easily. Many people living with arthritis feel discouraged by the fact that taking a shower, making breakfast, and taking out the garbage can take up significant chunks of their time because they are navigating through tricky terrain. You can feel like you’re still in control of your environment even though you’re struggling with pain if you have the right modifications to support your daily movements and habits.
Accessibility also promotes a safe environment that can prevent accidents. When stiffness and limited mobility kick in, every extra step or sharp turn creates a real risk because agility and reaction time are down.
Helps You Identify Areas of Improvement
The renovation process can be very revealing. When beginning the process of making arthritis-friendly modifications to a home, start by making a list of the biggest challenges or roadblocks keeping you from feeling safe and confident. There’s a good chance that you’ve never stopped to really consider just how many times you struggle with various aspects of your home each day. These ideas are great starting points:
- Do you feel like showering poses dangers? Do you sometimes put off taking care of hygiene because of the pain or fear of falling caused by your bathroom’s current setup?
- Do you struggle with reaching ingredients in your kitchen? Is it difficult to bend to use the stove, dishwasher, or other appliances?
- Do you have a hard time entering and exiting your home because you find your doors heavy or awkward?
- Is a laundry setup that’s only accessible by stairs making it impossible to keep up with laundry?
- Is having a bedroom on a different floor than the main living area causing stress?
- Does your home’s entryway make getting in and out of the house while holding groceries challenging?
We often grow so used to struggling in our homes that we don’t even grasp the strain these challenges are causing. This is why bringing in an occupational or physical therapist to provide suggestions and insights is helpful. These professionals may be able to highlight ways that your current setup is harming you.
Five Ways to Create an Arthritis-Friendly Home
Not sure where to start? The popular home modifications for arthritis we’ll discuss below can provide some inspiration.
1. Utilize Nonslip Flooring
An unstable or slippery floor surface can represent one of the biggest fall risks in the home of a person with arthritis. Tiles and highly polished wood floors can be extremely slippery. What’s more, they become downright dangerous when water is spilled on the floor.
There are several ways to introduce nonslip floors to a home. The first is to have low-pile carpet installed. Made of dense, short fibers, this is a durable carpet that doesn’t catch heavy amounts of dirt and debris. It’s also fairly inexpensive.
Nonslip vinyl flooring can also be an excellent option when looking for flooring with strong nonslip qualities.
If updating flooring isn’t in the budget, adding nonskid rugs in strategic places is a great option. The kitchen, bathrooms, and entryways can all benefit from nonskid rugs because these tend to be the most slippery spots in the home.
Just be sure that any rugs you add are secured to the floor to prevent trip hazards.
2. Add Some Electric Gadgets to Your Home
You don’t necessarily need to upgrade all your appliances to create an arthritis-friendly kitchen. The big ones to focus on include an electric can opener, a food processor that can help you avoid chopping, and an ice maker that prevents the need to break ice cubes out of the tray. If you’ve been using a handheld mixer for years, consider upgrading to a stand mixer.
While you’re evaluating your kitchen, consider upgrading to some lighter cookware if your current pots and pans are heavy.
If getting up to answer the phone is difficult, consider using a device from Alexa or Google that will allow you to pick up calls using a voice command. You can also add voice-controlled lighting that allows you to illuminate rooms before you enter without fumbling for the switch.
3. Add New Handles to All Cabinets and Closet Doors
Is grasping at door and cabinet handles causing strain in your hands and wrists? Simply replacing existing knobs and door pulls with wide, thick knobs and handles can make a big difference. Start by adding large handles to your kitchen cabinets. The same goes for handles on your bathroom vanity. Next, add thick, easy-grip handles to all closets and pantry doors.
4. Create a Safer Bathroom
It’s time to strongly consider installing a walk-in tub with a low entry point and built-in seating if you’re struggling with your current tub or shower. In addition, there are many low-cost fixes for creating an arthritis-friendly bathroom.
The first step is to get out of the dark. Upgrade lighting for a well-lit bathroom to avoid bumps and falls.
It’s also important to make sure that a light switch is located in an area where you can access it from the hallway to turn on the bathroom light before entering.
Grip bars are the unsung heroes of safe bathrooms. Make sure to install at least one in the shower or tub. You also need one next to the toilet. If a tub doesn’t have built-in treads, add anti-slip strips to the tub’s floor. It’s also important to have a high-quality nonskid bath mat that will not shift out of place when you step on it. Finally, consider an adjustable shower head with easy-to-manage controls for temperature and pressure levels.
5. Get the Right Furniture
When you’re living with arthritis, the plush couches and chairs that are comfortable for everyone else can be troublesome for you. Deep, soft couches can make it very difficult to get up from a seated position. You may find that you need to roll your body in a dangerous or uncomfortable way just to get up from your seat. A recliner chair is a comfortable alternative that allows you to distribute your weight evenly while sitting.
Bedding is another hot topic for people with arthritis. Frames that are either too high or too low can be dangerous. You may also find that getting up from being flat is nearly impossible in the morning. An adjustable bed with rise and decline features can be essential for someone with arthritis.
Any type of arthritis-friendly furniture that adjusts with the touch of a button instead of requiring you to use the force of your body to shift positions is probably going to be a good fit.
4 Rooms to Prioritize When Modifying Your Home
Where should the focus be when doing a home makeover to make modifications for arthritis? While it’s important to prioritize the areas of your home causing the biggest struggles based on your unique experience, the four rooms we discuss in the tabs below are the ones to prioritize for the biggest impact.
The kitchen is the place people spend most of their waking hours while at home. For arthritis sufferers, the room that once brought the most joy can bring the biggest challenges. Here’s how to create an arthritis-friendly kitchen:
- Update cabinets to feature rolling shelves that make it easier to find items.
- Consider an open-shelf concept that eliminates the need to open cabinet doors.
- Maximize counter space to keep as many items within reach as possible.
- Consider a built-in wall oven that eliminates the need to bend to take heavy pans in and out of the oven.
- If you currently have tile floors, consider switching to wood or vinyl flooring options that are softer on the joints.
- Install a pot filler over the oven to avoid the need to carry pots full of water from the sink.
The laundry room is often overlooked when considering functionality for someone with arthritis. However, this room can pose some of the biggest challenges for someone trying to live independently while suffering from pain and limited mobility. These tips can help:
- If the laundry room is located in a basement, consider moving the washer and dryer to the main living area.
- While most people prefer front-loading washers and dryers, top-loading appliances can sometimes be better for people with arthritis because they don’t require you to bend when accessing your laundry.
- Upgrade your supplies. Switch to laundry pods that don’t require you to squeeze a detergent bottle. Consider mesh laundry bags if holding a plastic laundry basket is challenging.
- If ironing has become difficult, consider purchasing a handheld clothing steamer.
There are many organizational tools that can make your bedroom easy to navigate again. Here’s a look at the best way to design a bedroom when you have arthritis:
- As mentioned earlier, consider investing in an adjustable bed.
- Purchase a clothing rack that can hold your frequently worn items to avoid the need to dig into closets and drawers every day when getting ready.
- Add a chair to your room that you can use when getting dressed, putting on socks, and tying shoes.
- Purchase a light for the nightstand with a built-in charging outlet. You’ll be able to plug your phone in to charge at night without bending down to reach an outlet by your bed.
- Consider electric blinds that allow you to control the amount of sunlight in your room without getting out of bed.
As a primary focus of the home, the living room deserves special attention. Here’s how to make it safe and comfortable:
- Consider installing recessed lighting in the ceiling that will allow you to get rid of lamps. The cords needed for lamps create trip hazards. What’s more, it’s easy to knock lamps over. You may also struggle to turn the switches on lamps.
- Get rid of coffee tables and end tables with sharp edges that could become dangerous in the event of a fall.
- Consider adding built-in shelving that allows you to keep all items off the floor.
Our Conclusion
Many people living with arthritis simply accept obstacles as part of daily living. An analysis of your home may reveal easy, inexpensive updates and arthritis adaptations that can leave you feeling safe and empowered. The first order of business is eliminating dangers that could lead to slips and falls. The second is to make updates that reduce your need to use your body to achieve things in your home. Adding electric blinds or upgrading to smart lighting are both great examples of low-cost ways to do this.
Don’t be afraid to bring in a fresh pair of eyes to help you identify red flags in your home. Family members, friends, and occupational therapists can all provide valuable insights.
