Adaptive Utensils Review: 4

Welcome to part four of our review of top adaptive utensils. If this topic interests you please check back as we will be doing additional reviews. In this Blog we will discuss an angled spoon adaptive utensil.  The concept behind use of the angled spoon is to compensate for limited wrist mobility, specifically wrist flexion.  If you observe the position of your spoon as you are obtaining food from a plate or bowl you will notice that the spoon is not pointing in the direction of your mouth.  As you bring the spoon to your mouth you need to change the angle in a little bit to line up with your mouth.  This is accomplished by slight wrist flexion if you are using a standard grip and slight wrist radial deviation if you are using a cylindrical grip. Elbow flexion is the primary movement needed for bringing a utensil to the mouth.  If your wrist flexion is limited you will need more elbow flexion than normal to angle the utensil in toward your mouth. 

An angled spoon adaptive utensil then can compensate for either decreased wrist flexion, radial deviation or elbow flexion.  For this review I purchased an angled spoon from Amazon for 14.95 The spoon portion is made of stainless steel.

The handle is made of plastic with a foam handle that is secured over the plastic handle.  So it can be used with the plastic handle for a slight built up grip or with the foam handle which gives a larger built up grip.  The plastic handle is 5/8 inches in diameter and the foam handle is 1 and 3/8 inches in diameter.  The foam handle has fluted ends.  There was no information with the packaging on whether or not the foam handle has latex.  It appears to be open cell foam which probably contains latex.  The foam needs to be hand washed.  When the foam is removed the spoon can be washed in a dishwasher.  I tried the angled spoon with a standard grip and with a cylindrical grip and with a wrist splint on and with the wrist splint off. 

One thing to be aware of with the angled spoon is the tendency for it to angle downward.  This will require a little more grip to prevent this.  This seems more pronounced with the foam removed.  This is a slight thing, however.  With a wrist splint on the angled spoon seemed better than a standard spoon particularly if a cylindrical grip was used.  With a standard grip there was not much difference in the feel of the movement between a standard spoon and the angled spoon, however, since I don’t have a wrist or elbow limitation the increased wrist flexion required with the standard spoon was easily compensated for by increased elbow flexion. With a standard spoon it is easier to make small adjustments than it is with a built up grip spoon.  This angled spoon also has a blunted end (end of the spoon that will first contact food when scooping) which I think is a nice feature. 

In summary the angled spoon adaptive utensil is applicable for individuals who have limited wrist or elbow movement. Thanks for visiting and check back as we will be doing an addditional review of adaptive utensils soon.

We also have information on how to choose adaptive eating aids including adaptive utensils and a concise but comprehensive Guide to Adaptive Eating Aids on this site.

As always an Occupational Therapist will be able to assess difficulty with self feeding and be able to recommend adaptive equipment or other strategies to improve functional ability.  Thanks for visiting and we invite you to contact us at anytime.