The bathroom can be a very dangerous room in the house for accidental injuries according to the CDC Report Nonfatal Bathroom Injuries Among Persons ≥15 Years — United States, 2008* found that there were over 234,000 nonfatal bathroom injuries. Of those 81.1% we caused by falls with the highest rate of injury happening in or around the tub or shower. 37.3% of injury accidents happened while getting out of the tub or shower and 2.2% occurred while getting in. The report also showed that injuries and accidents increased with age.
There are many great products to help reduce and/or eliminate accidents in and around the tub and shower. There are grab bars that can be installed in the area to help provide support, chairs and seats to use to to avoid slipping and falling and handheld shower heads that allow the bather to brig the water to them. The following information is provided to help understand some of the key items available to help make the tub or shower a safer place.
Grab bars are hand rails that are installed in the tub or shower area on the wall to provide a person a handle to hold on to while getting in or out. There are options available that include permanent bars that are screwed or bolted into the wall as well as suction cup products that can be moved or taken with you while traveling. The permanently mounted bars are considered more secure as they won’t become accidentally unattached to the wall if there is a problem with the suction cups.
Tub Rails are bars that attach to the side of the tub to provide a handle to help the individual steady themselves when getting in or out. These are clamped on to the side of the tub.
A shower chair is a waterproof chair that is designed to sit in the tub or shower to give the user a place to sit while bathing. Shower chairs come in a number of configurations and are made of a number of different non-rusting materials. Shower chairs may have a seat only or may include and backrest and/or arms. Some are even designed to be folded for easy storage or transport.
A transfer bench is like a long shower chair that has two legs that sit in the tub and the other two legs sit outside of the tub. The user can sit on the bench, swing their legs into the tub and then slide over on the bench to position themselves to bathe.
A Handheld Shower Head mounts to the spout where water comes out of the regular shower head. There are many features that make this an easy way for the user to bring the water to them, rather than move around in the tub or shower to get under the water. Many Handheld Shower heads allow the user to switch the water flow with a valve so that water comes out of the handheld unit and not the regular shower head. Some also include a button to allow the user to only allow water through the handheld shower head when they want it. The shower heads normally include a long nylon hose to allow the user plenty of range in the tub or shower.
In addition to these products there are items such as the Carex Bath Mat that provides a slip resistant surface in the bottom of the tub. Since these use suction cups to adhere to the tub or shower floor they can be easily removed for cleaning or transport.
Some people may find that use of some no-rinse cleansers and wipes might help clean ups between baths or showers a safe and convenient option. Click here to go to our previous article to learn more about in-bed bathing techniques and products - Tips on Sponge Bathing - also known as In-Bed Bathing.
A few simple products can help make the bath tub or shower more safe. We hope that you find this information about bath tub and shower safety beneficial.
* Center for Disease Control, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), Nonfatal Bathroom Injuries Among Persons Aged ≥15 Years - - - United States, 2008, June 10, 2011
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