Gift Ideas for People With Arthritis Gift Ideas for People With Arthritis

When you don’t have arthritis yourself, it can be a challenge to recognize which products will be difficult for a loved one with arthritis to use. Opening a pickle jar or using a computer seems straightforward enough to most of us, but for someone with arthritis these and many other tasks can often feel insurmountable.

This holiday season, don’t make a faux pas and get your loved one a gift that will cause them pain to use, pick out a gift that will make living with arthritis easier.

If you have a hard time thinking of what that might be on your own, here are fifteen gift ideas for people with arthritis to help you out.

  1. Automatic Wine Opener

To be honest, using a waiter’s corkscrew can be complicated for lots of us without arthritis, but even winged and levered corkscrews can cause difficulties for people with arthritis. If your loved one with arthritis is a wine lover, then a nice automatic wine opener could be the perfect gift.

Automatic wine openers are electric and do all the work of opening a wine bottle for you without requiring the twisting and turning that makes the task hard for arthritis patients. Your loved one can go back to enjoying wine without having to face pain each time they go for a new bottle.

  1. OXO Good Grip Appliances

Oxo provides a whole line of kitchen appliances designed specifically with the needs of arthritis patients in mind. Their products have easy grips and quick-snap lids to make day-to-day use easier. Whether your loved one’s a chef, or just occasionally takes on simple tasks in the kitchen, these appliances can put those kitchen tasks back within reach.

  1. Jar and Bottle Opener

So many of the foods we love are sealed tight in jars that make them a mini-battle for people with arthritis to access. As good as that salsa or those pickles look – if you can’t get to them without an unreasonable amount of pain and effort, they may start to look a lot less appetizing.

Luckily, a number of products are available that make opening jars easier for anyone that has a hard time of it. By giving your loved one a jar opener, you’re giving them back access to all those jars of salsas, pickles, and jam that seemed out of reach before.

  1. Arthritis Gloves

Arthritis gloves are designed to provide a little bit of warmth and compression to help relieve pain in arthritic hands. If your loved one’s hands hurt throughout the day, these gloves can help ease some of that.

  1. Muscle Relief Bath Soak

Sometimes one of the best things for joints and muscles that ache is a soak in a warm bath. Add some mineral bath with ingredients like eucalyptus and chamomile that further help relieve pain and encourage relaxation and the bath can be that much more soothing, making this a great additional gift to consider for the arthritis patient you love.

  1. Easy Hold Fingernail Clippers

Another task most of us take for granted that arthritis patients often struggle with is clipping our nails and toenails. The little toenail clippers most of us use are hard to get a good grip on and use effectively with arthritic hands. These easy hold nail clippers take care of that problem and make the everyday task simpler for someone with arthritis.

  1. Easy Grip Pens 

Most pens are not designed for the arthritic. They’re thin and hard to get a good grip on. These big fat pens, on the other hand, are designed specifically for the arthritic. They’re easy to hold and write with and even come with a detachable lanyard for those who have a hard time keeping up with items.

  1. Hot and Cold Gel Packs and Knee Wrap

Temperature is the not-so-secret ingredient in helping ease joint and muscle pain. Reusable and cold gel packs are therefore a useful and practical gift for anyone dealing with arthritis. For arthritis patients who also experience pain in their knee joints, a thermal arthritic knee wrap can make a big difference in easing that pain. 

  1. Massaging Heating Pad

We already established that heat can help with the pain, add some massaging capability and the gift becomes just a little more indulgent and helpful. A massaging heating pad is another useful gift and one your loved one might be less likely to buy for themselves.

  1. Paraffin Wax Bath

A paraffin wax bath is another way to use heat to soothe the pain of arthritis. Once an arthritis patient has warmed up the wax, they can soak their hands in the warmth in order to both relieve pain and soften their hands. The warm wax provides a pleasant sensation beyond providing pain relief, so this is a gift your loved one can enjoy beyond its primary utility.

  1. Car Cane

One of the inconvenient truths of arthritis that many people wouldn’t expect is that the simple act of getting in and out of a car becomes difficult. The car cane gives your loved one something stable to hold onto as they get in and out of the car to make the process much easier and reduce the likelihood of a fall.

  1. Sock Aid

When it’s cold and their joints are already hurting, the idea of just slipping a sock on becomes a frustrating chore. The easy on/off sock aid makes the task faster and minimizes the need to bend any joints. Your loved one can count on warm feet without any painful effort.

  1. Arthritis-Friendly Mouse

No one can avoid the need to use a computer in our modern culture, but for some of us it’s harder than others. The convenient little mouse most of us use is difficult to grip and move around with arthritic hands. Several different mouse options exist that are ergonomic for arthritis patients and simplify the process of using a computer.

  1. Cosmonaut Stylus

The arthritis-friendly mouse is good for computer-savvy arthritis patients; the cosmonaut stylus is a good gift for those who love their tablets. Like the easy grip pens, the stylus is thick so arthritis patients can easily hold onto it while using it. If your loved one regularly uses an iPad, Kindle Fire, or any other type of tablet, this gift will make their life easier.

  1. Heated Blanket

Finally, for a gift that provides both comfort and pain relief throughout the night, a heated blanket will keep your loved one cozy on cold nights while also providing the warmth that’s so useful in easing their arthritis pain.

 

Every individual with arthritis is different, so you’ll have to use your judgment to figure out the best gift for your loved one. Giving them a gift that’s clearly arthritis friendly shows you’re thinking of them and their needs, which they’ll be sure to appreciate.

Kristen Hicks is an Austin-based copywriter and lifelong student with an ongoing curiousity to learn and explore new things. She turns that interest to researching and exploring subjects helpful to seniors and their families for SeniorAdvisor.com.

4 Comments

  1. Ravi kumar June 4, 2017 Reply

    Great stuff listed over here, all would be useful for my mother to perform her work herself. Thanks Kristen Hicks to think about this topic. No bodies are taking care about them.

  2. Mary Ann Osborne June 29, 2018 Reply

    Wow did not know about all the stuff for arthritis sufferers. thanks so much. Will
    Begin looking into all I can use.

  3. Mary Ann Osborne June 29, 2018 Reply

    Can’t wait to start using all your recommendations.

  4. Paul B March 18, 2019 Reply

    Great article on gifts for people with arthritis. Wanted to share an item that is a good fit for your part about arthritic pens.

    There are a number of products out there but I will share the one I use that I found a few years back. It is called the Ring Pen Ultra. What I like about it is it is really a holder for pens and pencils so I am able to switch out what I use to write.

    I did some research prior to buying and even contacted the importer by first contacting the manufacturer to get an email address which was [link removed].

    I have used other products like PenAgain and some foam slip on grippers but prefer the Ring Pen Ultra.

    Thanks for you website. I have found a number of articles that are helpful for me and plan to share your site with friends and family.

    Keep up the good work.

    Cheers,

    Paul B

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