Dressing
If you struggle to get dressed or undressed, try some of the following:
- Sit down while getting dressed - it brings everything closer and means you're less likely to fall and hurt yourself
- Don't get dressed or undressed in the bathroom especially if the floor gets wet and slippery
- Remove any rugs or mats which you could trip over
Problems dressing the lower part of your body
There are many pieces of equipment available to help you with this problem and most of them are available from shops such as Boots, Argos, mobility shops and high street supermarkets. These include:
- Helping hand
- Stocking tight gutter
- Dressing stick
- Long handle shoe horn
- Velcro shoes
- Button hook
- Elastic shoe laces which turn laced shoes in to slip-ons
Problems dressing the upper part of your body
Often these problems can be solved just by buying different types of clothing and avoiding buying clothing with zips, buttons and press studs. Always buy clothes that fit you comfortably and make sure that the cuffs and the ends of trousers don't drag:
- Jogging bottoms and sportswear
- Pullovers and polo shirts
- Shirts and wide necked jumpers
- Elasticated waist dresses
- Buttonless cardigans
- Elasticated ties
- Front fastening bras
- Vests or tea shirts with bra inserts
- Over the head bras with no fastenings
- Elasticated cuffs as apposed to button cuffs
You can buy many of these items from shops such as Boots, Argos, specialist mobility shops and high street supermarkets.
If one side of your body is weaker or more painful, dress that side first.
If you have some tips on getting dressed, let us know and we can publish them here.
Buying clothes and shoes
A lot of companies produce clothes with different fastenings or discreet elasticated waistbands. You might want to contact Clothing Solutions a charity which advises disabled people on different types of clothes and offers a clothing making and alteration service.
Assisted Living Clothing offers a range of specialist items as well as the more usual items.
Shoes can be a real problem for many people - try to get a fitting at a shoe shop and make sure you wear shoes that fit you properly. There are many different styles of shoes which don't need laces - smart shoes, trainers, boots etc.
If you're worried about going to a shoe shop for a fitting because your feet need some attention, you should contact your GP and ask for the podiatry service. They can come to your home, cut your toe nails and so on.
What we can do
If you want more advice or you feel that you need more support, use our online enquiry form or contact us. We may assess your situation and discuss with you about the type of support you need.
Other useful contacts
These are just a small number of the organisations that may be able to advise you about or sell you equipment to help with dressing.
- Counsel and Care (national charity for older people)
- Disabled Living (local charity for disabled people)
- Mobility shops (list of local mobility shops)
This page was last updated on 28 October 2011
