If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s to be a little more aware of our immediate surroundings. Social distancing has become a part of our lexicon, and with it comes an acknowledgment of the need to be safer in our every day lives. One of the only positives to be gained from a global pandemic is the hope that people will learn to take a little better care of the things they can control, which will lead to better physical and mental health. 

For people with mobility issues, taking care of their immediate surroundings is nothing new. In order to maintain physical and mental health, safety products and protocols become essential to everyday life, especially in the bathroom. A full 80% of falls happen in the bathroom, according to the National Institute on Aging.

Potential hazards are pretty much everywhere in the bathroom, making them a pretty scary place for people with mobility issues. Water, slippery surfaces, and many hard, porcelain fixtures and areas combine to create a pretty hazardous space for those with mobility and balance issues. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that nearly 200,000 Americans receiver emergency room treatment for bathroom-related injuries every year. The National Council on Aging says that one-fourth of older Americans fall each year and that a senior dies from a fall every 19 minutes. 

Those numbers are undoubtedly eye-opening and are why at APA Medical Equipment, we take bathroom safety equipment so seriously. 

If you or a loved one has mobility issues, the first room in your house you should update is your bathroom. For those with mobility issues, the most common bathroom hazards include:

• Slippery shower stalls, bathtubs, and floors
• Low toilet seats
• Insufficiently secured towel racks and grab bars
• Shower chairs that are not slip-resistant

Shower and Tub Safety Precautions

Grab Bars and Safety Poles: APA Medical offers a wide assortment of wall bars to make life easier for those with mobility issues. Installing grab bars will make your walks in and out of your bathtub a lot safer. By having them placed on the walls or on the side of your tub, you’ll be able to grab on to them to give you support. Wall bars can be mounted both in and outside your shower and by your toilet, where safety is most needed. APA can install on fiberglass, sheetrock, wood, cement, and tile. If grab bars aren’t suitable for your bath or shower, consider a safety pole. The safety pole reaches from floor to ceiling and provides something to hold on to for balance and support while bathing. Safety poles can also be installed near the toilet to help get onto and up from the toilet. 

Bathing Aids: APA Medical also offers a wide variety of bathing aids for those with mobility issues. From bathtub bars, bath steps, bath stools, and ceiling poles to various bathing accessories designed to make bathing easier. Each of these items enables its users to complete bathroom tasks with confidence and stability. From bathtub mats and shower stips to long-handled bath brushes and portable bath steps, our aids help you traverse and use the bathtub and shower area with more stability.

Bath Bench and Shower Chairs: When it comes to bathroom safety equipment, not many items are more valuable than bath benches and shower chairs. In addition to providing stability for those with balance issues, both shower chairs and bath benches allow those who have difficulty standing for long periods to rest while bathing. Bath benches and seats allow for a safe, comfortable, and stable place to sit while bathing. Each bench is equipped with rubber or suction tips to help eliminate any chance of the bench moving or sliding. Drainage holes in most seats prevent water build-up. The Wheeled Shower/Commode Chair is perfect for people who need a commode and want the rolling feature to facilitate easy transportation and mobility, including the capability to roll over the toilet or into the shower area.

In addition to the Bath Bench, we also offer various Transfer Benches for both shower and bath use. Transfer benches assist those who have difficulty stepping over bathtub walls. The anodized aluminum frame is lightweight, durable, and rust-resistant. For people with mobility issues, there are many days when stepping into and out of the bath is just a little too much, and transfer benches have saved many people from nasty falls.

Toilet Seat Frames and Risers

Standard toilet bowls are approximately 15 inches high, making it pretty difficult for the elderly and those with mobility issues to raise and lower themselves from the toilet. APA Medical offers a variety of toilet seat risers. Add from 2” to 6” to your seat to make toilet use easier, with a variety of handle setups available for elongated or standard toilet bowls.

Toilet seat risers, when combined with a toilet safety frame, create a scenario around the toilet that provides an additional level of safety and security and provides users with the confidence necessary to manage this activity on their own. APA Medical offers toilet frames that are designed to add support and enhance safety while toileting. Contoured waterfall armrests add comfort and provide an excellent gripping surface.

To peruse all of APA Medical’s bathroom safety equipment, look here. 

In addition to all of these safety products, here are three bathroom safety tips for those with mobility issues:

1. Keep Your Necessities Close

Your bathing experiences will be a lot safer and care-free when you know you don’t have to get in and out of the bathtub. By keeping things such as body wash, soap, shampoo, conditioner, razors, shaving cream, rags, loofas, and other bathing accessories close at hand at all times, you’ll be able to enjoy relatively worry-free, comfortable showers. If you take baths, be sure to have your items neatly stored on a shelf within reach or firmly placed on the edges of the tub.

2. Keep the Bathroom Floor Area Clear

If you or a loved one has mobility issues, make sure to keep your bathroom floor clean as the last thing you want is to step on something that could cause a fall. Be sure to hang towels on racks or hooks and all other necessities like brushes, hairdryers, or clothing stowed away and kept safely out of your walking space.

3. Check the Water Temperature Before Entering the Shower or Bath

For those with mobility issues, it’s important to know how hot or cold the water is before entering the shower or bath. You don’t want to be startled which could cause a slip. You also don’t want to accidentally scald your skin. Making sure the water temperature is where you want it also eliminates the need for bending down or exiting the shower or tub prior to completion. 

APA Carries a Wide Variety of Bathroom Safety Equipment

As we said off the top, the bathroom can be a dangerous room for those with mobility issues. The combination of water and using the toilet, sink, and bathtub or shower can easily lead to slips and falls. For people with mobility issues, bathroom safety equipment can ease the anxiety of using the bathroom and let them complete bathroom tasks much more easily.

My dad was 89 years old when he fell and broke two vertebrae in his neck at his home in Minnetonka, Minnesota. He recovered remarkably well for someone at that age—he’s able to use a walker to get himself around in their apartment and has adjusted to “assisted living” about as well as anyone could. Beyond my mother, his walker, and his wheelchair, the aid that has meant the most to him for the past two years are wall bars. The biggest question they had at first, was where to install grab bars.

For my dad, his biggest need for wall bars is in the bathroom. His grab bars allow him to use the bathroom with confidence, knowing that he can maneuver himself from the toilet to the shower and the sink with stability and balance.

What Are Grab Bars?

So what are grab bars? Grab bars, otherwise known as wall bars, are safety devices designed to enable a person to maintain balance, lessen fatigue while standing, comfortably redistribute their weight while maneuvering, and, most importantly, give them something to grab onto in case of a slip or fall. Grab bars can quickly transform the level of safety in a home to better accommodate people with mobility issues. Caregivers can use a grab bar to assist with transferring a patient from one place to another.

Grab bars increase safety and accessibility for anyone who has limited mobility. They are often seen in public accessible toilet stalls, but are also used in private homes, assisted living facilities, hospitals, and nursing homes. Grab bars are most commonly installed next to a toilet or in a shower or bath enclosure but can be installed anywhere in a home.

CDC Recommends Grab Bars to Reduce Injury Risk

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), more than 230,000 nonfatal bathroom injuries among people over the age of 15 are treated in emergency rooms each year. Most bathroom injuries occur in or around the tub or shower. Injury rates increase with age, especially accidents where a person slips and falls near a toilet.

The CDC concluded in its report that injuries might be reduced through environmental modifications, including adding grab bars inside and outside the tub or shower to reduce falls and installing grab bars next to the toilet for added support.

Where To Install Grab Bars In Your Home

Bathrooms are the most common places for grab bars in private homes, but they are certainly not the only location that grab bars can help provide extra support and stability. Floor to ceiling grab bars, or stability poles, are often used in bedrooms to provide help in getting in and out of bed or a chair or to help caregivers by assisting transfers.

Grab bars next to a toilet help people using wheelchairs or walkers transfer to the toilet seat and back to the wheelchair or walker. They also provide a big assist to people who have difficulty sitting down, have balance problems while sitting, or need help rising from a toilet or chair. In a shower or bathtub, grab bars help maintain balance while standing or maneuvering, assist in getting in and out of the shower or tub, and generally help to lessen the risk of slips and falls.

Things to Know When Installing Grab Bars

1. Grab bars can be mounted in a variety of areas

A grab bar should be able to support a person weighing up to 500 pounds. The height, weight, and ability of users should be considered when choosing which products to install. Generally, grab bars are installed 33-36 inches from the shower floor. The height, position, and location of the bar can be adjusted to fit a user’s needs.

Dimensions: Our American made satin stainless steel grab bars are 1-1/4″ diameters. We suggest a 1-1/4″ diameter for your home. (the smaller diameter can be easier to grip for people with small hands). ADA compliant exceeding ADA requirements by providing a weight capacity of 500 lbs when properly installed

APA Medical can help you decide what your best options are for installing grab bars in your home, either horizontally, vertically, at an angle, or a combination of all three if that’s what best suits your users.

2. Grab bars should be located where they can best assist users

For tub/shower combinations, grab bars should be installed on the back wall and control wall of the shower. The ADA recommends that two bars be installed on the back wall, one 8 to 10 inches from the rim of the tub and the other parallel to it 33 to 36 inches from the base of the tub. For walk-in showers grab bars should be installed on a side wall, back wall and on a side wall near a shower seat if there is one. For bathtubs, grab bars can be installed near the rims on each side of the tub or near the controls to help users maintain their balance when getting in and out of the tub.

3. Grab bars are available in a variety of lengths and styles

Grab bars are available in various lengths ranging from 12-to-42 inches. They also come in a variety of shapes and finishes. APA Medical offers a wide variety of shapes and styles- SPECIAL ORDER—you can find bars that will blend in with the décor and fixtures in your bathroom.

APA Medical Offers a Wide Variety of Grab Bars and Safety Poles

APA Medical offers a wide variety of wall bars to make life easier for those with mobility issues. Is safety an issue? Let APA make your home a safer place to live. We can install on fiberglass, sheetrock, wood, cement, and tile.

Grab Bars Are an Ideal Solution for Anyone with Mobility Issues

Do you know what the most dangerous room in any house is? Most people would probably guess the kitchen, which sees the most activity, and has hot stoves and ovens, as well as sharp utensils. While that’s a pretty good guess, the correct answer is the bathroom. Falls are the most common injuries in the home, and the bathroom, with all of its slippery surfaces, is where most falls occur.

That’s why for anyone with mobility issues, grab bars are such a great addition to the bathroom or anywhere else in the home where more stability is needed. Let’s face it, if you have family or friends who have mobility issues for any reason, you worry about them. We’ve all heard way too many stories of older people falling and hurting themselves. If you have parents or grandparents who are living on their own, or friends who might not have the strength or balance they used to have, grab bars, or wall bars, are a simple and effective way to make their life easier.

Grab Life by the Bar

Grab bars are safety devices designed to enable a person to maintain balance, lessen fatigue while standing, hold some of their weight while maneuvering or have something to grab onto in case of a slip or fall. Grab bars increase accessibility and safety for people with a variety of disabilities or mobility difficulties. Although they are most commonly seen in public accessible toilet stalls, grab bars are also used in private homes, assisted living facilities, hospitals, and nursing homes.

Installing grab bars in showers and tubs and next to toilets can make a big difference when reaching for towels, sliding glass doors, or other unstable fixtures.

• Grab bars by the toilet help people using a wheelchair transfer to the toilet seat and back to the wheelchair. They also assist people who have difficulty sitting down, have balance problems while seated, or need help rising from a seated position.
• Used in a shower or bathtub, grab bars help to maintain balance while standing or maneuvering, assist in transferring into and out of the enclosure, and generally help to mitigate slips and falls.
• Floor to ceiling grab bars, or security poles, can be used in the bedroom to help one get out of bed or get up from a chair, or to help care givers by assisting in transfers.

Grab bars can be used in different positions depending on what your needs are. Vertical grab bars can be used to help maintain balance when standing. Horizontal grab bars assist when sitting or rising, or to grab onto in case of a slip or fall.

APA Medical is one of the largest installers of wall bars in the upper Midwest because we offer the best pricing and the best service. APA is the preferred installer for many healthcare groups such as Medica, Ucare, Health Partners and Blue Cross MSHO programs as well as County Waiver programs, with nearly 1,000 bars installed annually. At APA we have been installing grab bars and stair railings for two decades in our customer’s homes, so we understand which areas of the home make you vulnerable and where bars and railings will make you feel safe.

Again, if you have family members or friends who have mobility issues and are living on their own, grab bars are a great addition to the home, providing safety for those living there and peace of mind for their loved ones.