How Your Living Space Can Help With Arthritis Management
Living with osteoarthritis (OA) can be a chore, especially if your home isn’t set up properly. Of course, not everybody can afford an arthritis-friendly renovation, but that’s all right: a bit of foresight and some creative alterations can make your living space noticeably better for your sore joints.
Gripping, bending, twisting, and lifting tend to be the most strenuous movements for OA sufferers, so consider these home life hacks that aim to ease the pain and strain that come with your everyday routine.
Organize Well to Ease your Pain
The way you store things may seem arbitrary, but finding the best place for each item will add up to a lot less gripping, bending, and straining at the end of the day, and that means fewer arthritis symptoms.
Begin with the rooms you use the most – namely the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom – and consider which things deserve to take center-stage.
Get Clever With Your Closets
Everything you use most often should be in easy reach as soon as you open the door. For your bedroom closet, this means keeping the clothing, accessories, and shoes you wear most often between waist height and shoulder height (on big, smooth hangers to make things even easier to grab and put back).
For your kitchen pantry, shift the shelves to allow more room in the middle, so you can stock all your favourite dry goods there. Use smaller containers – they are lighter and easier to lift and use, which takes strain off your joints. You can still buy in bulk, but make a point to transfer some of each product to a smaller basket or jar, and keep it within arms-reach.
Get Rid of Clutter
The more you have, the more you have to store, and the more inconvenient storage space you’ll need. Instead of pushing stuff to the back of your cupboards and closets, go through your belongings and get rid of anything you don’t use often enough.
When it comes to your wardrobe, anything you haven’t worn in the past year can probably go (excluding very special garments), and you can probably downsize each and every closet to one rack, one row, and one shelf of useable items.
