An Occupational Therapist’s Favorite Tools for Personal Hygiene

In occupational therapy we love finding strategies to make someone’s life a little easier. Often after an injury, activities we typically don’t spend a lot of time thinking about become a huge challenge. Using the restroom and performing personal hygiene is one of the number one goals we address in occupational therapy. Luckily there are some great tools out there to help. Here are a few of my favorites. 

The items below include associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I only include links for items I have used in my practice or have received positive reviews from clients and other OTPs. This is not medical advice, I am just sharing tips and tricks I have found in my practice or learned from others. 

The FreedomWand (paid link) is a fantastic tool for anyone struggling with toilet hygiene. It was created by Deborah Tacoma after facing challenges with hygiene because of a spinal cord injury. Anyone finding it difficult to reach parts of their body can benefit from this great tool! 

A bidet can also be a game changer for people struggling with personal hygiene. There are styles and brands available that can be installed on your toilet seat. The Toto (paid link) is a favorite of many of my OT friends, it even comes with a heated seat! If you are looking to add a little whimsy to your bathroom the Brondell (paid link) comes with a multicolored LED light for the toilet bowl.

Many folks are familiar with a commode chair. It’s a “portable toilet” that can be placed at your bedside or over your toilet to provide increased height and arm rests when toileting. The problem is many have a very small and hard toilet seat. I like this commode chair (paid link) with a padded seat that is open in front. This can be beneficial for people with male genitalia who need to sit down to urinate or people with women’s genitalia performing period care. 

Do you have any favorite tools that help with personal hygiene? Let me know!