Hands Free Eating Aids

There are a limited number of what would be considered to be hands free eating aids. These are devices or adaptations that could be used by individuals with ALS, a high level spinal cord injury or other conditions resulting in weakness of the upper extremities. The goal of these devices is to improve independence at mealtime. There are three categories of what could be considered to be hands free eating aids.

1. Cuffs that are worn on the user’s hand that hold a utensil.

2. Robotic devices

Universal cuffs have been used for some time to enable individuals with limited grasping ability to perform activities of daily living like eating with greater independence. The cuff wraps around the palm of the hand. A utensil is slid into the cuff which then enables the user to use the utensil without holding it with their fingers or thumb.

There is a newer style/modification of the universal cuff called the Eazyhold. The Eazyhold is made of silicon and has openings at each end. This silicon piece can be attached to silverware and other objects like make up brushes and toothbrushes

Eazyhold is a nice product. It is available on Amazon. If you look on their facebook page you will see many examples of especially children who are using the Eazyhold to perform ADL and play activities successfully. It comes in eight sizes and holds well onto the objects it is attached to. We discussed in one of our Blogs how using a universal cuff requires increased shoulder and forearm movement if you are scooping or stabbing with the utensil. Keeping this in mind the universal cuff will work better if the utensil is used primarily in the horizontal plane ie. the utensil remains fairly level when food is scooped onto the utensil. This will require the addition of a plate guard. A tip here is to place the plate guard near the front of the plate ie not directly at the side of the plate. This will allow a more natural movement when scooping against the plate guard. We have a Blog with more information on adaptive plates

Robotic Hands Free Eating Aids: From our search on the web we found Three Robotic eating aids that are popular, the Obi, the Mealtime Partner and the Neater Eater Robotic. Since these are expensive, we couldn’t obtain any of the devices to try so our description of them is from their website information and any reviews we could find. Essentially though, they all use computer technology to scoop food from a plate and with a robotic arm transmit the food to a location near the user”s mouth. The Obi is one of the newer hands free eating aids that uses computer technology. Obi has a sleek, modern look and smooth movement. It is easily programmed to the user’s preferred parameters. Obi is also available on Amazon.

Mealtime Partners also makes a robotic hands free eating aid. It functions in the same way as the Obi. They also make a hands free drinking aid and have excellent information on adaptive eating on their website. Mealtimepartners.com.

The Neater Eater Robotic is a UK product that functions much the same way as the Obi and The Mealtime partner. Neater Eater also has a non robotic adaptive eating aid that assists with plate to mouth movement if grasp is limited.

We hope this hands free adaptive eating aids guide has provided valuable information. Selecting an appropriate adaptive eating aid will depend on the preferences of the potential user. As with most adaptive equipment an Occupational Therapist can help guide the selection process. Thanks for visiting and we invite you to contact us at anytime.