How To Use Eating Utensils: Part Two

In part two of How To Use Eating Utensils we will discuss adapting the person’s existing utensil to make self feeding easier.  How about not a full built up handle but just a high friction wrapping material like coban/coflex.  A roll of coban is pictured below.  Coban/coflex is stretchy elastic material that will stick to itself.  Regular coban does contain latex but  they do also make a latex free product.  The photo below shows a roll of coflex.

Coban (this link is for latex free coban on amazon) can be wrapped around the utensil to provide any degree of built up grip and a friction surface.  Although this might not work long term due to cleaning issues it would provide a good start toward determining what type of utensil configuration and grip pattern would work the best.  The photo below shows grasping a spoon with coflex wrap and a standard grasp pattern. 

We talked about how easy in terms of muscle requirements holding the spoon is.  Do things change when we are scooping with the spoon and bringing the spoon to the mouth?  Yes they do but not a lot! The greatest force requirement from our muscles occurs when we are scooping with the spoon or stabbing with the fork.  Scooping and stabbing!  A shout out to Isaac Newton here.  When scooping the edge of the spoon presses down into the plate.  The plate then presses up on the spoon! Newton’s second law … for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  At this time then more force must be exerted on the spoon to prevent the spoon from moving upward and the person losing his or her grip on the spoon.  Friction here can be your friend!  Coban could provide some friction and actually some of the new adaptive eating utensils might supply more friction than standard utensils. So there is a lot happening in terms of the biomechanics of utensil use. These are some of the considerations to take into account when selecting adaptive eating utensils. You can also visit Part One of this topic. Thanks for visiting today. We also have a concise but thorough Guide To Adaptive Eating Aids. Thanks for visiting and we invite you to contact us at your convenience.