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Home & Garden Articles
Door Pull Safety For the Elderly
Mon 30 Nov 2009 - 07:59
Door Pull Safety For the Elderly
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_Akre]Jennifer Akre
Do you have an older person living with you at home? If so many of the things you need to be thinking about when it comes to the construction of your home change from what you are used to.
As people get older their health situation changes. Often they become weaker. Some have problems with visual perceptions or balance and still others have mental challenges that come on with age. This means you have to take their situation, and the possible future of their situation, into account as you look around at the current state of your home.
In this article we are going to look specifically at one of the hardware pieces in your home - the door pull.
The door pull can be found on a couple of places. First, it can obviously be found on a large door going from one room to the next. Second pull can be found on doors to cabinets that are in various rooms of the home like the kitchen and bathroom.
There are generally two kinds of door pulls that are used on both kinds of doors. The first is a knob-like pull that you wrap your fingers around and pull open. The second is a U-shaped item that you can hook your hand into and pull open.
When it comes to the elderly members of your home, that first type of knob can become very problematic. As you get older you often develop arthritis. This can make it hard to bend and close your fingers tight or to grip smaller items. Unfortunately this means many people who have arthritis can also not get a good grip on a small knob-like door pull, and if they can, it may be painful.
Meanwhile, the U-shaped door pull is much easier to use. Even if they have fingers that don't work as well as they used to, they can hook their whole hand inside the pull and use their body weight, instead of finger muscle, to open the door.
In the case of many elderly people, they don't want to damage their pride, so even if things hurt they may not tell anyone because they don't want to admit they are having a tougher time doing something. It is often best to just switch these knobs out for ones that are easier to use.
One thing to consider when you are looking into the U-shaped door pulls is the amount of space between the pull and the door. There needs to be enough space to comfortably put a hand in this area. Often door pulls are made more for decoration than usage and while they may look like they're the right shape, there really isn't enough room to get a hand between the hardware and the door and those using them still need to be able to grab on, taking us back to the initial problem.
Retrofitting your cabinet and door hardware to accommodate an elderly member of your family is not too hard of a job. Simply take a little time to switch out those old hard to grab knobs for some easier to use door pull options and you'll be almost all the way home!
Author Jennifer Akre is an owner of a wide variety of online specialty shops including that offer both items and information on how you can easily furnish and decorate your space. Whether it is [http://www.eknobsandpulls.com]pulls for your bathroom or [http://www.ekitchenhardware.com]kitchen cabinet hardware for your kitchen there are many tips you can use to make those spots both functional and beautiful. Click today and indulge your senses.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_Akre http://EzineArticles.com/?Door-Pull-Safety-For-the-Elderly&id=3328536
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