If you or someone you know if using a walking aid for the first time, be it because they’re older now and living in an senior living community or because they’ve sustained an injury that has their body healing, there are a few things that you might want to help them do around the house to make moving around easier. Especially if their home isn’t really equipped for those who might have issues with accessibility, rearranging the living spaces can make life a whole lot easier.
To help you see how this can be done, here are three tips for rearranging a living space during that time that you’ll be using a walking aid.
Remove Unnecessary Items
One of the first things that you should do when you’re trying to create a safe space for someone to move around in when using a walking aid is to get rid of anything that doesn’t need to be in the space. With clutter and other unnecessary items filling up a room, it can be hard for anyone to move around the space, let alone someone who’s now having to maneuver a walking aid, too.
If there are actual larger items that you can move out of the space so that there’s more room to get around, this can work out great. But in addition to this, if there are larger pieces of furniture in the room, you may want to downsize so that the items that are left in the room allow for more space to move around as well.
Create More Space Between Furniture
For the furniture that is left in the living space, something that can make moving around the room easier to manage is if there is more space in between pieces of furniture and other items.
Ideally, for the use of things like a wheelchair, you’ll want to try to keep five-feet between spaces so that the wheelchair can easily fit through without knocking into things or encroaching on the space of the person using the wheelchair. While using things like a walker can usually require less space than five feet, having more space than you might traditionally between furniture can still make for an easier time getting around at home.
Bring Things Within Arm’s Reach
When someone is having to use a walking aid around the house, they aren’t going to be able to get around as well as they could before. This means that not only will they be moving more slowly and needing more space to move in general, but they also won’t be able to reach things that are up high or down low like they may have been able to before.
With this in mind, it’s wise to rearrange things so that they don’t have to reach farther than 24 to 48 inches to get anything that they’ll need.
If you or someone you love is having to use a walking aid at home, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you rearrange the space effectively.
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