Of all the rooms in a house, the bathroom is easily the most dangerous for everyday life. The springiest of youths risk serious injuries in the event of a nasty fall in the shower or bathtub. All too often, such injuries can significantly degrade the quality of life for an elderly person. A hip or femur fracture can sadly lead to diminished autonomy, which can then lead to medical needs making home care impossible. Prevention is your best option here. 

Let’s start with the bathtub. This big water reservoir, soothing source of comfort and cleanliness, can quickly become a trap for those with limited mobility. First, the surroundings of the tub and its interior can be slippery when wet. Then, the sides of the bath can be treacherous to step over. Finally, it can be an strenuous task to stand back up from the bath from a lying position. 

How Can You Secure the Bath and Its Surroundings ? 

The surroundings of the bathtub can be made safer by the installation of wall-mounted grab bars. But where should you install the bars to provide the safest support when taking a bath or a shower ? The answer might seem banal, but it is really that simple: put the bars where they will be easiest to grab. Generally, a vertical bar can be placed at elbow-height on the wall along the edge of the tub. A second bar is placed on the wall opposite to the entry point of the bath. That bar can be placed horizontally or diagonally to provide multiple angles of prehension. In any case, a well-positioned grab bar will provide you with a sturdy point from which to hold yourself in and around the tub. Furthermore, in the event of a fall, they might just give you the chance to catch yourself, preventing the worst injuries.  

That said, the best bars are screwed into the wall. While some suction-cup bars are available, they really are only useful to assist with the balance of the user, not to support their whole weight. If you were ever to grab unto it while falling, it is probable that the bar will detach itself from the wall. 

How to Safely Step Over the Side of a Bathtub ? 

The riskiest moment of taking a bath is that moment when you step over the side of the tub. Balancing on a single foot, stepping on wet acrylic, it is prudent to have something to hold on to. A wall-mounted grab bar can provide that support, as could a bath safety rail. Depending on the shape of your tub, it might be possible to affix a safety rail directly on the side of the bath. Such a handle gives you a sturdy grip while preventing the need to drill through your bathroom walls to install bars. 

It is also possible to circumvent the need to walk over the bath in the first place by using a bath board or a transfer bench. A bath board is installed directly on top of the tub. A transfer bench is a legged bench that has half of its length sticking out of the bath. Both options provide you with the ability to sit from the outside of the bath to then slide inside the tub.  

How Do I Stand Up from a Bath Safely ?

In order to reduce the strains of standing back up from your bath, a few solutions could be implemented. First, we could remove the need to sit at the bottom of the tub. With a legged bath chair, you would be comfortably seated at a right height to make standing back up easier. The main inconvenience of this type of chair is the fact you won’t be submerged in water, meaning you will have to wash yourself with a hand-held shower or a sponge.

A bath lift is a bath chair with a motor designed to lower you to the bottom of the tub and then lift you back up. Activated with a hand controller, you will be in control the movements of the chair as it lowers you in and out of the water. At the press of a button, you will be brought back up to the edge of the tub, from where you can stand out from it. The side-flaps provide a similar use to a bath board, from which you will be able to slide in and out of the tub without having to step into it. These bath lifts cost more than regular bath chairs, but for long-term home-care, they are worth it. 

Finally, there are many options to adapt and secure your bath and bathroom in order to reduce the risk of falls. With all these solutions, you will be able to protect your autonomy and health in the comfort of your home for much longer. 

Here to find your Mobility, Comfort and Liberty !