Bathtub Steps for Elderly

As people get older, their movements can decrease significantly, making everyday tasks harder. One major challenge in senior people’s lives is in bathrooms; many people are slipping and hurting themselves because of their movement limitations.

Since bathrooms and bathtubs are typically damp, slipping incidences occur quite often. Luckily, today many different products can facilitate the life of older adults to live a safer life. 

One challenge older people can face is getting in and out of the bathtub and their movements in the bathroom in general.

The struggles really depend on how big of a bathtub we are talking about, the movement limitation of the individual, the structure of the bathroom, and many other variables.

However, there are different products available on the market that facilitate life for elderly people with mobility issues.

You may be wondering, what makes a product practical and helpful in this context? The first necessary thing would be to detect the problem – whether it’s getting into the bathtub, sitting down to the toilet, or needing a place to take support in general.

Then, you can check the products and see which ones are designed to solve your specific problem. It is also quite important to find a strong product that wouldn’t break down within days.

The product being high quality carries the most significant value here because in the other cases, it can cause severe damage to the person in which there cannot be any returns. 

We have researched for you. Today, we will introduce the best available bathtub steps and tools for the elderly on the market.

Bathroom Safety

Regardless of how comfortable you are with your own sense of balance, bathroom safety is an important consideration. Seniors are at increased risk of tripping, slipping, and falling. Make the bathroom less dangerous by putting non-slip mats in the shower and bathtub. Also, consider installing an adult bath seat. These precautions will help you ensure the safety of your loved one in the shower. The following are some important bathroom safety tips for the elderly.

Getting In And Out Of A Bathtub

Getting into and out of a bathtub for the elderly can be a tricky task for older adults. For safety, make sure to install grab bars and non-slip mats on the floor. Installing grab bars on a bathtub’s edges will help prevent falls. If the tub itself is not safe, install a walk-in shower instead. Whether it is a standard bathtub or a walk-in shower, these fixtures can make life easier for the elderly.

Grab Bars

If you are installing tub steps for elderly people, make sure you install bathtub steps with grab bars to support them. These devices must be able to support at least 250 pounds in weight. When you install them on the wall, it is important to make sure they will be stable because the sheetrock underneath can deteriorate over time. This is a good reason to purchase bathtub steps with grab bars. A good quality tub step with grab bars can be very helpful for elderly people who live alone.

Bathroom Lighting

When choosing the right fixtures for your bathroom, look for CRI, or color rendering index, ratings. 100 is ideal, but it’s hard to find this, so look for anything higher. The CRI is an indicator of how well you can see colors, and a light with a high rating will give you that. Another factor to consider is color temperature, which is expressed in Kelvin (K). A 2,700K lamp gives a warm, yellow light, so a 3,500K lamp is a nice compromise.

Electric Bath Lifts

Bath chair lifts are a vital piece of equipment for allowing your aged parents to take a relaxing bath. They provide comfort and general safety and eliminate physical strain while bathing. The lifts allow people with arthritis to relax in a comfortable bathtub. These lifts do not require specialist bathroom equipment and can be installed in any bathroom. They are a valuable addition to any home and should not be overlooked. A walk-in tub or a ceiling track lift over the bathtub are also options.

Inflatable Bath Cushion

Installing an Inflatable bath cushion for the elderly is a practical way to ease getting in and out of the bathtub for the elderly. The cushion can be placed at the edge of the bathtub and can be used to support the legs. Ensure that the bathroom floor is dry. For added support, place a wide bath step stool on the edge of the tub. Once in the tub, gently turn the person over, putting one leg outside the tub and the other in.

How to Make Bathtubs Safe for the Elderly?

Before moving on to the products, it would be best to say a few words about how bathtubs can be a safe environment for old people by taking the necessary measures. Because slips and falls can cause serious problems for senior people, taking precautions carries even more significant value. 

To make bathtubs safe for old people, one really just needs to find the pain points in the bathtub and come up with solutions. For example, the bathtub floor can be very slippy, so in this case, using nonslip mats that stick to the floor might be quite helpful.

Getting in and out of the bathtub also creates great risks, and to avoid it, grab bars around the bathtubs can come in handy, but they wouldn’t ease the process of getting in if the movement of the individual is seriously damaged. In that case, bathtub steps would create a better solution. If possible, combining both can also make sense. 

Step2tub Shower Step Stool for Seniors

It might be pretty upsetting and devastating to ask for help while doing our everyday things. We have mentioned a lot about how bathrooms are not typically a safe place for those with mobility problems, yet this issue can be solved with some products.

If you are looking for bathtub stairs for yourself or your loved ones, it is important to think about what you expect from a shower step stool and what the product offers. You should keep in mind that not every step stool would meet your expectations. 

However, the Step2tub shower step stool has a great potential to meet your expectations from a step stair. Any person with mobility issues can use the advantages of this product. The product has bars on both sides to take support while stepping in and out of the bathroom, which is a great feature because it can prevent falls at a significant level. 

You might be wondering, what if the step stool itself slips? It is a quite understandable question since the wetness of the bathroom leaves an open door for every kind of slip. But the thing is, this product is designed not to slip, meaning that it is made out of non-slip material, which will prevent this incidence from happening. So, no need to worry about this issue. 

Your height or the person’s height who will use the product does not matter because the bars are adjustable for any height. That is, it will be pretty comfortable to get into the bathtub without struggling with the challenges of holding the bars. 

Most of the customers who purchased this product are pretty satisfied with it. Some people had different experiences, especially in between getting in and getting out of the bathtub, but the general viewpoint illustrates that the product is reasonably practical and handy.

Additionally, you do not need to worry about the weight it can carry, because the product is very much sturdy and carry up to 400 pounds! Even though it is very much sturdy, it is also light weighted and can be relocated anytime you would like. 

Able Life Universal Floor to Ceiling Grab Bar

The limited movement can create all kinds of struggles in daily life, and not all of them would require one solution. In addition to bathtub stairs, there are different kinds of solutions to the problems of elderly people in bathrooms.

This product is a floor-to-ceiling bar, as the name suggests, and it facilitates the life of those who are having trouble with mobility by providing support when they are trying to get up or sit down. 

While getting into the bathtub, having a place to take support can facilitate the process for elderly people. You can put this product right next to your bathtub and hold onto it to have a safe entrance to your bathtub. Moreover, you can also put it next to the toilet to facilitate sitting down and getting up. 

The usage area of the bar is not limited to the bathroom, although it can come in quite handy in the bathroom.

There is a section in the middle of the bar where people can hold onto it so that they won’t slip or fall. It is possible to install this product at any place at your home that you wish.

Life can get a lot easier when there is something you can hold onto, improving your mobility, instead of just asking for someone to help you at all times.

So, getting this product will further improve your independence as a person who is not advantaged in mobility, and you can enjoy doing things on your own instead of doing them with the presence and supervision of another person. 

This product can be a real lifesaver when it comes to bathtubs and showers. Most of the falling cases in bathtubs are quite preventable if there had been some sort of support to hold on while getting in or out of the bathtub or when just showering.

Keeping the grab bar close to you in the shower or bathtub would ensure that you have someplace to hold on in a dangerous situation, and at least you can soften your fall if it is inevitable. 

Vive Metal Step Stool

Vive metal step stool is a multi-purpose step stool that can help elderly people greatly during their daily lives. Due to the inefficiencies in mobility, it might be quite challenging for some to get up to high places.

What we mean by “high places” does not necessarily need to meter above your height; we are just talking about simple places like a bathtub, bed, or other places.

As we mentioned several times earlier, in this context, bathrooms create a significant risk for the elderly because of the possible aftermath of falling. 

This metal step stool can play a role as a bathroom stair. It is designed in a way to minimize the risk of slipping, meaning that you do not have to worry about the step stool slipping itself.

If entering the bathtub requires a big step (which can be a great challenge for elderly people), then this tool can be a real lifesaver.

It eases the processes of getting in and out of the bathtub, eliminating the risks of falling. Still, it would be best if you were careful. Even though the step stool facilitates getting in and out on a significant level, the risk of falling is never zero. 

Moreover, this product can serve different functions in different areas. You can use it as a small ladder to reach high places such as the top of your wardrobe since it adds 9” to your height. 

Multi-Purpose 2-Step

This product is another life facilitator for elderly people with mobility issues. It includes two steps instead of one, which can be a better option for people with serious conditions; because two small steps are always easier than one big step.

You do not have to worry about it slipping in a wet environment because the material used in the product is slip-proof, and it ensures safe use. 

Although the product is as light weighted as it can be, it is solid. You do not have to worry about it breaking down under normal conditions.

However, there are no sidebars to hold on to, so if you are afraid that there is a chance of losing balance, it is recommended to be combined with a bar.  

But again, coming back to our point where we said different needs and requirements are best with different products, this two-step shower step for the elderly can be quite helpful as well.

Some people have problems with their knuckles, and they cannot move them a lot. Since there are two steps in this product, there will not be a need for a big step, and small steps would do the job instead.

Additionally, it can create a significant benefit while getting down from the bathtub for the very same reason. The slip-free nature of the ladder would protect you or your loved ones from bathroom accidents. 

Like other products, there can also be many different use areas of this two-step ladder.

For example, if you have an elderly member in the house, they can use it as a ladder to get in and out to the bathtub, and other members of the family can use it as a footrest for shaving or getting manicures. The super-lightweight of the product will make it quite easy to move into other places. 

There is a small setup process involved in this product, but there is nothing to worry about. The instructions are straightforward, and it is nearly impossible to mess them up.

So, if you can read the instructions, there will be no problem left. Moreover, you will not even need any other equipment; just the sent pieces are needed to be stuck together.

No big challenge at all in the installment process, and then you can start to enjoy your two-step ladder!