Choosing Eating Aids

How to Choose Eating Aids:                                                            This will be a two part series on tips and tricks for how to choose eating aids. If you have been reading our previous Blogs you know that there is a lot to consider when choosing adaptive eating aids.  An Occupational therapist will have knowledge of eating devices and how they can assist individuals who are having difficulty with the important self care activity of independent dining.  If you can’t consult with an OT here are some eating aid tips and tricks that you can use to determine which adaptive eating aids may be applicable. 

Before we begin I want to stress an important point.  We are considering here the activity of obtaining food from a plate and bringing it to the mouth.  The activity of chewing and swallowing food should be considered separately.  If individuals are having difficulty with chewing and swallowing an MD or a Speech Therapist should be consulted to evaluate chewing and swallowing.  Inability to chew and swallow is known as dysphagia and can result in choking or developing pneumonia.  

When choosing eating aids or eating devices it will be beneficial first to define the problem.  While there may be other issues to consider here is a list of problems that can contribute to difficulty with utensil use.

1.  Weakness:  Weakness of the hand muscles or the hand, wrist or shoulder muscles can make it difficult to hold a utensil or to bring the utensil up to the mouth.
2. Range of motion deficit:  Arthritis in the hand may make it difficult to grasp utensils.  A severe deficit in wrist, forearm, elbow or shoulder range of motion will also impact the ability to eat without difficulty. 
3. Coordination Problems:  Resting or intention tremors or generalized ataxia will make the activity of self feeding difficult. 

In addition to these main categories, visual deficits, cognitive deficits and sensory deficits may also impact ability.  Also keep in mind that these categories can overlap each other and one individual may have all of the above problem areas.  Next, let’s examine each of these categories in terms of how to recognize them if you are not a therapist. Following that potential solutions will be presented.

Weakness of Hand Muscles:  As we have mentioned in previous Blogs it doesn’t take much muscle force just to grasp a utensil.  A simple tip for assessing this in the home environment is to ask the individual with difficulty eating to hold the utensil with their preferred grasp.  Ask the person to hold the utensil steady while you grasp the utensil and try to lift it up, down and rotate it.  If the person is able to keep the utensil from slipping in the hand this is a good indication that they have plenty of strength to perform the activity successfully. If they lose their grip easily that is an indication that weakness is the problem. Potential solutions are discussed below:

Solutions:  A sometimes overlooked solution is to initiate a strengthening program.  Theraputty can be a fun and effective tool for strengthening the hand muscles.

Theraputty is available at mercer county rehab.  Squeezing the theraputty in between the fingers and placing the theraputty in between the thumb and the index finger and pressing down with the thumb are two good exercises for improving the strength required to hold a utensil.  Another tip for weakness of the hand muscles is to obtain utensils that have more of a friction surface than standard utensils.  We reviewed in a previous Blog the special supplies utensils which have silicon handles that provide a nice friction producing surface. 

Here is another tip when you are selecting adatptive utensils and weakness is a problem.  One of the higher force movements in the activity of self feeding occurs when stabbing or scooping to obtain food on the utensil.  A ribbed handle on on the utensil grip or a “stops” at each end of the grip can help prevent the hand from slipping in relation to the utensil.  Thanks for visiting today. Check back for part two when we will present more tips and tricks for how to choose eating aids. Post Update: 4-21-22. We invite you to visit our just launched Adaptive Eating Aids Shop.