We don’t want anyone left out of Halloween celebrations, so we are continually developing new innovative ways to make Halloween accessible for all. Read on to get some great ideas and find products that can help bring the experience to life.

Some simple swaps can make Halloween more accessible.

Swap Face Masks for Face Paint

Instead of using masks as a part of the fancy dress experience, use face paint.

For visually impaired children, masks can hinder their sight, and for children who rely on lip-reading, masks can obstruct a person’s mouth. Children with autism sometimes have sensory sensitivities, and masks could be too intensely stimulating.

The best alternative is face paint, as you can adapt the design to be more inclusive and suitable for various conditions and disabilities.

Trick or Treating

If you plan on venturing outside, make sure you have the relevant mobility aids for children, making the experience as comfortable as possible.

Youngsters who use a wheelchair and need help manoeuvring in and out of it can use non-slip floor mats. Floor mats can give the child the support and grip required to manoeuvre into their wheelchair. Whilst out and about, feet don’t always stay on the wheelchair footrest, but having grip roll that’s stuck to the footplate prevents feet from slipping off, avoiding injury and maintaining comfort.

A trial run of the trick or treat route you will take, completed a day before, can help reassure children.

Adults and children alike can have allergies. One of the most common is a nut allergy, so make sure you stock a variety of treats that all children can enjoy, which avoids children feeling left out and prevents them from consuming foods that cause an allergic reaction.

Sometimes drinks are given out as all the candy has run out, or the child requires a drink at the end of trick or treating. Either way, you may need a bottle opener. At Tenura, we have a grip-enhancing bottle opener that helps you open bottles with more comfort and grip.

Rather than going outside and trick or treating, you can hide the treats around the house as a treasure hunt. You can place them in areas you know are manageable for children at the party.

Prevent Spillages

Some children have trouble with their hand-eye coordination. But placing sweet bowls and drinks on anti-slip table mats and drinks coasters can prevent spillages. They are brightly coloured, so easy to see. Tenura mats are also easy to wipe down and protect furniture from stains.

It may be a good idea to take a drink out with you whilst you trick or treat, and a Tenura silicone CupCap drinks cover can make any drinks container spill-proof.

Pumpkin Carving

Carving pumpkins is a staple of Halloween, but it can be dangerous. By sliding Tenura children’s cutlery grips onto the carving knife, the child’s grip is maintained on the knife’s handle, making the knife less likely to slip out of their hand. Children’s cutlery grips make handles larger and easier to hold. Some children have difficulty grasping thin handles, so this is a perfect way to make pumpkin carving accessible.

To prevent the pumpkin from moving whilst you carve, you can place it on a Tenura anti-slip table mat.

If your child cannot participate in pumpkin carving, consider sticking items such as colourful pom-poms, fluffy pipe cleaners, and googly eyes to the pumpkin instead, which significantly reduces any risks involved.

Mark Your Home

Let others know that people in the home have conditions that require patience and understanding. You can do this by placing a sign visible to those coming up your driveway. Parents can read the sign and educate their children before approaching the door.

 

We hope these tips and tricks have given you some inspiration to make Halloween more accessible for various disabilities. If you have any other ideas you would like to share, let us know via our social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram).

Happy Halloween!

In this blog, we explore the importance of Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and what they are. It's essential to get a clear understanding so you can better care for a patient or family member. Plus, we have rounded up some brilliant products that promote independent living by making ADLs manageable.

What does ADL stand for?

ADL stands for Activities of Daily Living, which comprises of five basic tasks required to live an independent and healthy life. Members of the population who have recently received surgery or have disabilities/a condition, such as arthritis, can struggle to complete daily tasks. They are accessed individually, allowing carers to detect areas where the client needs additional help.

What are the 5 ADLS?

1. Personal Hygiene

A person must be able to keep a suitable level of hygiene to meet the standards of ADLs. A person may not meet their needs due to a disability. Some wheelchair users may struggle due to limited mobility, making tasks such as bathing tricky.

Another reason could be the side effects of the medication, causing depression. People with depression tend to disregard bathing. Those with depression usually have decreased energy levels, making bathing an overwhelming or neglected aspect of their life.

Personal hygiene extends beyond just bathing and encompasses brushing your teeth and hair, looking after your nails, feet, scalp, oral hygiene, and ear organ hygiene. There are many areas of our body we need to care for to make sure we stay healthy. Personal hygiene can help prevent the spread of diseases, so it's essential.

Not brushing your teeth can lead to bad breath, toothache, the loss of teeth and even gum cancer.

There are products on the market that can aid with specific issues a person may encounter during these tasks. At Tenura, we have developed cutlery grips, an adaptive aid you slip cutlery or utensils like toothbrushes, combs, and other hygiene-related products into, to increase the handle's width. Thin handles can prevent those with limited dexterity in their hands from having proper control. The silicone structure of the cutlery grips is grip-enhancive.

2. Dressing

From selecting clothes to putting them on, this task requires a variety of movement types. Lifting your arms and putting them through your shirt sleeves involves large mobility movements, whereas buttoning the shirt requires more finicky actions. For people with conditions such as arthritis, the manoeuvrability of limbs and hands is limited, making putting clothes on tricky. There are so many dressing aids to help with the different aspects of getting dressed.

Getting dressed shouldn't be a painful experience, and we realised that many of these dressing aids have thin metal handles, making them tricky to hold for those with limited mobility in their hands. But we have a solution. By cutting Tenura grip roll into strips and building up a thicker handle, you can make dressing aids more comfortable to grasp. Tenura grip roll is made from our grip-enhancing silicone, so your hands will not slide off the handle like they would with the use of the metal handle alone.

Being unable to change clothes or get undressed can affect other activities of daily living. Remaining in the same clothes for days would lead to poor personal hygiene and allow germs to breed, which could cause illness. Another affected daily living activity would be continence due to the inability to unbutton your trousers to use the toilet.

 

3. Eating

Children are a great example of the stages a person may be at when eating. Babies need complete assistance during the task, whereas toddlers have developed partial fine motor skills to hold cutlery and complete the actions required to transport the food from their plate to their mouth. Following this, at 5/6 years old, they can fully feed themselves. You need to evaluate your child's capabilities just as you do with persons in your care. Some people will require full assistance during meal times, whereas those who have some fine motor skills and the coordination necessary to move the food from the plate to their mouth may benefit from the use of adaptive products.

You can add Tenura cutlery grips to the handle's of your eating utensils, such as your knife or fork, to increase the handle's width, making using cutlery comfortable as the utensils are easier to hold. They also are made from 100% silicone which gives them grip-enhancing properties, stopping the cutlery from sliding out of your grasp. We have children's cutlery grips for smaller hands.

Getting the right foods is essential to health. The body needs the correct nutrients to work effectively and fight off infection. Food also gives the body energy to complete other daily living activities.

 

4. Continence

Being able to go to the toilet and control your bowels is another essential daily task. A person may not be capable of controlling their bladder or can't physically move to the bathroom. Understanding the root problem can allow you to put things in place to help the individual.

Bathroom floors tend to be shiny and smooth, making getting on and off the toilet tricky as you can't get a foothold, but we have come up with clever ideas to help those struggling to use the toilet safely.

If a person struggles to get up from the toilet, the use of grab rails can be helpful. But you may find them uncomfortable to hold and not as grip-enhancing as you would like. By wrapping Tenura grip strips around the grab rail handle, you can improve both comfort and grip due to the soft yet grip-enhancing properties of the silicone grip strips.

The contour rug you have around your toilet can be made safer using a Tenura non-slip floor mat underneath. Place your Tenura floor mat under your bathroom rugs to add additional non-slip properties making the bathroom rug extra secure whilst keeping the aesthetic of your bathroom. The non-slip properties mean rugs won't slide but instead will provide a reliable surface to manoeuvre on and off the toilet.

Tenura floor mats have adhesive-like properties that help keep bathroom rugs in place. The floor mat sticks itself to the floor, preventing the rug from moving and allowing the person on the toilet to get a proper foothold without the risk of slips and falls.

If necessary, you can remove the floor mat, and upon removal, no residue will be left behind.

Please note that the Tenura silicone range loses its non-slip properties when wet.

 

5. Mobility

Moving around, whether that's to go to the kitchen for food, or the bathroom, it's critical to health. A person may find their mobility is compromised following injury, surgery or a medical condition. A person may have difficulty in certain areas. For some, they may require hoists around the house or live-in care. Others can get by with a simple Tenura non-slip floor mat that gives them grip and increased confidence when completing activities of daily living. Non-slip floor mats provide a foothold for the user, even on slippery floors. You can use them around the house, beside beds or sofas to help you manoeuvre safely.

It may be worthwhile installing Tenura non-slip bath stickers, which aid a person with mobility in bathrooms or areas frequently exposed to water. You can line a bath or shower's base with Tenura bath stickers. They apply best to smooth surfaces, providing the area is cleaned first with an alcohol-based cleaner (cream-based cleaners leave behind a powder residue that causes the stickers to lift). For more information, please read our application bath stickers blog.

 

Now you have a basic understanding of the products that can help patients or family members overcome the struggles associated with activities of daily living. We hope this blog has given you ideas to provide further support and find effective products for anyone in your care.

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This blog post will explore the advantages both mentally and physically that owning a pet can have on someone with a disability such as arthritis.

Having a disability can affect your everyday life, harming your heart rate, communication and causing depression. However, a furry companion like a cat or dog can help to reverse the negative impact.

Owning a pet positively influences two main aspects of life, mood and health, which means pets affect the body in terms of decreasing rates of depression, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Let's explore these benefits in more detail…

Pets and Their Effect on Blood Pressure and Arthritis

With arthritis, inflammation can occur in joints, constricting arteries and reducing the rate blood can flow through the body to supply muscles with oxygen. The restricted flow leads to increased blood pressure, which is troubling for arthritis patients as they are at a 50% higher risk of heart attacks.

So, it's essential to reduce blood pressure, and pets can help. Pets have therapeutic calming auras. When a pet is in your lap, you talk, stroke and nestle into its warmth, forgetting your worries, which decreases your heart rate. When you are tired or nervous, it's nice to have a companion.

Pets can make a person feel safe in their home or when out and about; animals can be a security blanket, guard the person or their belongings, and be a protective barrier or conversation starter. Feeling safe and secure can also lower levels of anxiety and stress that heighten blood pressure.

 

Pets and Their Effect on Cholesterol Levels and Arthritis

Those with rheumatoid arthritis are at high risk of heart disease, 50% to 70% higher, and cholesterol is a contributing factor. Having elevated cholesterol levels in the body increases pain within joints and other tendon complications.

You may have high cholesterol levels due to long periods of stress, a lack of exercise or a poor diet containing too many saturated fats. Studies have shown that pets decrease the triglycerides present in the body. Triglycerides are the three fatty acids that contribute to high cholesterol levels.

Reducing cholesterol in the body can help keep heart disease at bay. To lower cholesterol levels, you should exercise daily for at least 30 minutes, and having a pet is an excellent excuse to go for a walk and is undoubtedly a great benefit. Having a pet with you can reduce the stress or anxiety you may feel when out walking.

 

Pets and Their Effect on Cognitive Behaviour/­Depression

It's estimated that up to 41% of disabled adults have depression, which is staggeringly high, and there is no one cure to suit all. Many factors cause depression in a person's life, and it can be a struggle to help change a person's mindset.

The companionship of a pet, a being they need to care for, can give a disabled person the necessary motivation and responsibility for a positive change. Caring for others can come more naturally than caring for yourself when struggling with depression, so an animal's natural temperament to play and exercise can have promising long-lasting effects on their mental state.

 

Pets Effect on the Elderly

Pet owners over 65 visit their doctor 30% fewer times than non-pet owners. There's no clear-cut reason, but the benefits of reduced stress, increased exercise, and companionship all help play their role.

 

Some Tenura Products that Make Pet Ownership Easier for the Disabled:

Tenura products can help those who have weak grip strength or conditions like arthritis care for their pets.

Tenura Extreme Grip Mats

When it comes to feeding your pet, they tend to be pretty eager, diving headfirst into their food bowl, knocking it around the floor, with no worry about the mess they create. You can prevent this previously inevitable mess by placing the pet's food bowl onto a Tenura Extreme mat. Tenura Extreme mats stop the food bowl from sliding across the floor or getting tipped over.

Nothing is sacred when you have a pet, they wonder where they please, and cats especially seem to find themselves upon the cabinets displaying your favourite ornaments. Instead of watching their next steps with fright, place your vases and such on a Tenura Extreme mat. The objects stick to Tenura mats, so the next time your cat is up there, you won't need to worry nor tidy up anything broken. 

Tenura Grip Roll

You can line underneath pet products such as litter trays, scratching posts and other large products that unwantedly move. Just cut Tenura silicone grip roll to size and place it between the floor and pet accessory.

Tenura Grip Strips

During walks, you may find that the lead is tricky to keep a hold of, and it's uncomfortable. You can instantly improve these issues by twisting Tenura grip strips around the lead's handle. Grip strips add a layer of cushioning silicone comfort with grip-enhancing properties that stops the lead from sliding out of your hand.

Similarly, you may wrap Tenura grip strips around the brushes handle when grooming your pet, which aids your grip, giving you more control. Brush handles can be thin and difficult to grasp, so build up a few layers of Tenura grip strips to increase the handle's width, which is a helpful idea for those with arthritis or other conditions that limit dexterity or strength of grip.

 

Extensive research into the animal should be completed before being housed, as not all animals/breeds will be appropriate. It's very much dependent on the person's specific disability needs.

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Physi­ot­he­rapists assist and encourage the development of someone who has a disability, is injured, or requires assistance to complete activities of daily living. They do this via physio sessions, education and therapy. They support people with neurological conditions like strokes and Parkinson's, neuro­mus­cu­los­ke­letal problems such as back pain and arthritis. They also deal with a person's cardiovascular and respiratory complications.

So how can Tenura daily living aids assist the lives of Physi­ot­he­rapists and their Patients?

Grip-Enhancing Silicone Rolls for Physi­ot­he­rapists

You can wrap Tenura silicone roll around grab rails at the practice. This aids with a person's mobility as the silicone roll is grip-enhancing, making it perfect for people with weak grip strength. It also provides a layer of comfort for the user to hold. Use Tenura grip roll to adapt equipment making it more accessible for your patient, such as their pre-existing mobility aids.

You can make all sorts of grip aids from Tenura silicone rolls. You cut the roll down to the desired shape and wrap it around objects, including handles

Tenura grip roll can help with equipment application by keeping splints and other apparatus in a still position during physiotherapy rehabilitation sessions.

Some physi­ot­he­rapists use silicone roll for massage therapy on scar tissue. They say it softens tendons following surgery when used in conjunction with massage methods.

When positioning a patient during respiratory physiotherapy, Tenura non-slip roll can help with stabilisation. Positioning is the term used to promote optimal recovery and reduce the risk of pain and swelling.

Colour Contrast/Visual Aid Methods in Physiotherapy

When conducting forms of therapy with a partially sighted person, the contrast between objects is vital. For example, the phrase "it's black and white" means it's clear because there's a stark difference between them tonally, which helps individuals distinguish them. The majority of Tenura products come in vivid red, blue or yellow, making them excellent visual aids.

There are trip hazards everywhere you go, and in a clinic, you must reduce risks such as this. You can add strips of bright red or blue silicone roll to hazardous items, things such as door stops which are often grey and camouflage into their surroundings.

Red silicone roll works exceptionally well at highlighting danger, as it's customary to signify hazards and heat in this way. For instance, stop signs are red, and when you're running out of petrol, the gauge dips into the red. In your physiotherapy clinic, you can highlight steps, hot surfaces and other dangers effortlessly.

An example of using blue grip roll within the clinic could be to make light switches more prominent. Make table corners and other sharp edges that could cause harm to stand out by using strips of blue grip roll.

Red and blue silicone rolls come in two variants non-adhesive and adhesive-backed, the latter being a more permanent non-slip­/grip-enhancing solution. There are also pre-cut grip strips available from the Tenura website.

Non-Slip Floor Mat Uses in Physiotherapy

When aiding a wheelchair user in and out of a wheelchair, a non-slip floor mat can give them a foothold, stopping them from slipping. It can also provide a level of confidence to the user and make them more surefooted.

When a person is standing up from a chair, the chair can jolt backwards on slippery clinic floors. By placing a non-slip floor mat underneath, you can add a layer of safety, which is essential when evaluating the person's fall risk.

During weight-bearing procedures in your practice, where you move a person from one surface to another, Tenura non-slip mats can be a real benefit. Use non-slip mats as a preventative measure for slipping/­falling during this procedure. With both your feet and your client's feet safely positioned on a non-slip mat, the risks involved reduce as you both have a secure foothold, which would not be the case on smooth slippy clinic floors.

Non-Slip Table Mats for Self-Feeding­/Eating

Having a non-slip table mat under your patient's plate during self-feeding allows the user to exert more force, and if required, they can eat with one hand because the non-slip mat and plate remain in place. This real-world example is an executable daily exercise they can use at home or in the clinic to increase their eating competency.

Cutlery Grips for Physiotherapy Sessions

With age, dexterity decreases, so developing fine motor skills in your patient is vital. We utilise our fine motor skills in everyday life, such as buttoning up a shirt, which can be difficult, especially if the movement of your hands is limited.

Often as a physiotherapist for seniors, handwriting practice is encouraged to progress a client's fine motor skills. To make this task more accessible, you can slide a Tenura cutlery grip onto a pen, improving grip and comfort due to the handle's increased surface area and the grip-enhancing properties of the silicone cutlery grip.

Eating involves a few steps that develop fine motor skills, such as using cutlery correctly, transferring food from fork to mouth, and using a knife for cutting. Sliding Tenura cutlery grips onto a fork or knife improves the persons capacity to hold and use their utensils, adding comfort and control.

Paediatric physi­ot­he­rapists will know that children have to learn fine motor skills, and following the above examples can push them to excel. We have Children's cutlery grips available designed for small hands.

Non-Slip Fabric for Hippotherapy Sessions

In hippotherapy, also known as equine-assisted therapy (physical and occupational therapy utilising the temperament and mobility of horses), you can place a piece of non-slip fabric between the rider and the saddle to ensure they don't slide off. It can also add additional grip to the reins making Tenura non-slip fabric advantageous during hippotherapy. Alternatively, silicone grip rolls would also provide similar results.

Bottle Openers in Physiotherapy Sessions

Recovery and re-establishment of independence are the primary goals of physiotherapy. Things such as opening bottles may be a big feat for your patient, and a daily living aid can be of help. For pill bottles, a grip-enhancing bottle opener can aid your patient, helping them to reach their goals quickly and encourage them to venture beyond their perceived limited ability.

 

At Tenura, we want to thank all physi­ot­he­rapists for their dedicated work improving the quality of life of their patients. If you have any further uses you would like to share with the physiotherapy community, get in touch, and we will add it to the blog.

 

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During everyday life, many people struggle along each day with previously simple tasks. Disabilities and current injuries can make movement and grip much more of a difficult task. Opening doors, using handles, or trying to grip a mug can all be a task without the strength of grip to help. Tenura daily living aids can help users avoid distress in their day to day lives.

For example, by using Tenura silicone grip strips and rolls, these tasks can become that little bit easier. Tenura anti-slip grip strips and rolls are made from silicone. This means they are very flexible and hardwearing. Traits which make this material perfect for providing a strong grip, by wrapping this silicone grip roll around an object or handle, you have instantly improved the grip you will have between you and the object, this makes moving the object around or using it much easier.

When Tenura anti-slip strips are wrapped around a handle, grip strips offer a strong grip between the silicone and your hand, which means it shouldn’t fall or come away from the handle, Tenura grip strips will sit there comfortably until you choose to remove it. Although we suggest using Tenura anti-slip grip strips and rolls around handles and utensils, there is a large number of objects which this can be applied to, for example, anti-slip grip strips work great on a smooth bike handle, giving you a large amount of extra grip. Anti-slip grip roll can also be used to line objects where your arms or legs may rest to prevent slips and slides, like on the footrest of a wheelchair, or on the handle of a crutch.

Tenura anti-slip grip rolls offer a DIY alternative to Tenura stock daily living aid solutions, this allows you to make a selection of different shapes and sizes, perfect for any job you may need it for! Tenura grip rolls and strips are also very easy to clean, simple soap and water is enough to clean all dirt away from its surface. Then when dry again, it possesses the same level of grip it had when first used, allowing cleanliness in places you may need it. Non-slip roll is easily wrapped around small or large areas and will hold firm until taken off by the user, this makes the grip strips and rolls perfect for using with cutlery, utensils, and many other objects which people with hand impairments may struggle using.

Tenura offers an adhesive and non-adhesive version of anti-slip grip roll. If you want a permanent non-slip surface, cut Tenura adhesive roll down to size, remove the backing and place in the desired area. A brilliant example of this would be cutlery draws. Cutlery is held in place by the grip properties of Tenura non-slip roll. Tenura non-adhesive roll is fantastic for areas you wish to add non-slip properties for a limited amount of time.

Tenura anti-slip grip rolls are available in blue and red with sizes ranging from 1m x 20cm to 9m x 40cm. Anti-slip grip strips can be found in 1m x 2cm in blue only.

By using Tenura daily living aids like anti-slip grip strips and rolls, you can be sure that previously simple day to day tasks are now possible, or no longer need the same amount of hard work to complete.