Let’s Get Dressed!

In my experience, the task of getting dressed is often brushed over, as most people share a view that it should be a simple and easy task. But if you know how complex the task really is, and how many people find getting dressed a challenge, maybe you would be more open to having a detailed conversation around this subject.

If you consider how many aids are available, just to help with the activity of getting dressed, you should understand the complexity of the task to some degree. After all, an item of equipment would not be made to solve a problem that never existed!

There are different areas, however, let’s focus on lower limb dressing aids; so, everything from our waist down.

“Have you put your socks and shoes on?” If you have children, you would have said this so often, maybe even 5 times each morning! Now, as the years have progressed, maybe you are finding it difficult to balance and bring your leg up, maybe you are experiencing challenges with bending down, you suffer from back pain or shortness of breath, or you have developed arthritis and your joints have become painful. Suddenly, your independence in the familiar routine of putting your socks and shoes on, or getting dressed in general, is one in which you may now require some assistance from someone else. Never fear, there is easy to use equipment available, which will allow you the opportunity to complete the task on your own rather than having to rely on other family members or care workers.

Sock aids: Putting our socks on is a very complex task, for which we need strength in our hands to open our socks wide enough and manoeuvre them over our foot, the ability to bend at the waist, and balance to lift our leg up. With a sock aid however, the sock can be placed onto the aid, and this can be lowered to the floor using the string and your foot can then slip through the sock! There are a few different varieties so I recommend exploring which choice would be best suited to you with your Occupational Therapist.

Shoehorns: How hard is it to get your shoes on, it should be easy right? You can just slip your foot in, wiggle your foot around and voila, your shoes are on! Whoops, hang-on… the back of the shoes have folded down and are caught, digging into the back of your foot. With a shoehorn (even better now because they have long handled ones!) you can slip this in the back of your shoe, and this makes a simple task remain simple and painless.

Spring/elastic shoelaces: If your shoes have laces on them, you can get elastic or spring shoelaces which are fantastic in changing your lace-up shoes to slip on shoes! With the elastic shoelaces, you can keep your shoes tied up and ready to go, and the elasticity in the laces will allow you to slip your foot in and out of your shoe with ease.

Compression stocking aids: As you get older, it is not uncommon to start experience swelling in your ankles. General Practitioners or Nurses may prescribe compression stockings as a management strategy for this swelling. These, however, are incredibly difficult not only to put on, but also to take off. Good news… there are aids that work like the sock aid in assisting you to get compression stockings on. And even better news... there is also a device called the “Medi Butler Off” which helps to not only assist with taking off socks, but also compression stockings!

These are not all… there are many more devices and recommendations that can be made, even making something from general household items, that will help with your routine of getting dressed! As outlined in our blog, “What Do I Need an OT For?”, an Occupational Therapist’s role is to assist individuals in completing occupations they want, need, or are expected to do. So, if you are finding any aspect of your dressing routine challenging, please let us know and we can problem solve together and come up with a suitable solution that is specific to your needs!

Please refer to the following references or seek guidance from your treating Occupational Therapist for further information on the different dressing aids available:

1. Aidacare Health Care Equipment 2021, ‘Dressing Aids’.