Caregiver Aids #7: Shower Chairs

To ensure Skip's safety while showering, we've gone through a series of shower chairs, each better able to accomodate her increasing disability.

The first photo shows the kind of seat we started with when Skip merely needed something to sit on in the shower because of leg weakness and minor mobility problems. These are inexpensive and come with a variety of options, including handles, an extension for transferring into a tub and a seat back. During the period this was used, Skip could step into and out of the shower stall (~ 4 inch lip to step over) and hold herself upright with a strong trunk.

When something with more stable support (that is, immovable seating with back support) was required, we settled on the wall-mounted, folding seat shown next. It worked extremely well, giving Skip a very safe shower as long as she was able to get into the shower by walking into the bathroom with her walker or could stand and make a one-step transfer from a wheelchair. We also installed two grab bars in the shower stall and one on the wall beside it to aid in safe transferring.

As Skip's mobility capabilities decreased, she became unable to make the transfer between wheelchair and shower seat. The distance was too far to make via transfer board. So I became the means to transfer for a time. This transfer was quite awkward and sometimes resulted in a fall for Skip. Clearly, not a good solution for Skip (or me).

We started to look around for other options. We were hampered by the dimensions of the shower stall door opening. The ideal would be to find a wheelchair that could be used in the shower and would fit through the stall opening and over the low lip. All the different sites that specialized in wheelchairs we looked at did not have a chair that met these criteria.

Knowing we'd need a different shower chair eventually, even if it wouldn't fit the current shower, I purchased the chair shown in the last photo from SpinLife.com. Its measurements looked like it would be a bit too wide to get through the shower door. But, it was less than $200 with free shipping, so I figured it was a low risk purchase. The feature I liked best about it was the arms lowered so we could have Skip transfer into it with a board from the bed. I could then wheel her into the bedroom and get her over a lower lip into the shower stall. Unfortunately, as I suspected, it didn't fit width-wise through the stall door. For me, this sealed the deal that we'd need to look at reconfiguring the shower as there seemed to be no remaining options available.

We had the interior of the shower expanded, the front lip lowered to just a few inches and the door removed entirely. Now we had plenty of room to get Skip's shower chair in. The lip proved to be a bit of a strain for me to pull Skip and shower chair over, so we bought an inexpensive ramp made of airplane aluminum on eBay. I believe this kind of ramp is called a threshold ramp, since it's designed to get a wheelchair over a one-step threshold. Worked perfectly in this situation. We don't use either the commode bucket or the front pedals on the chair, as shown in the photo, both of which were easily removed.

Since the shower was redone about five years ago, we've been using the shower chair from SpinLife. Before purchasing the Sure Hands lift, I'd "pick and plop" Skip from the bed to the shower chair. (My hope of using the transfer didn't really pan out, as the seat of the shower chair is fairly slippery.) Once in place on the chair, I'd wheel her into the bathroom. Then, pulled the chair up the threshold ramp and into the shower. The wheels lock to ensure stability. Now, with the lift, we place the shower chair in the shower, then transfer her from wheelchair to shower chair.

Even as Skip's trunk muscles have weakened over the last few years, the shower chair has proven a safe tool for showering. Though it's the cheapest wheeled shower chair we found (some cost thousands), it has met our needs for Skip's current disability level. For someone with MS who can no longer walk but can sit upright without slumping over too often and can hold his/her head upright, I'd recommend taking a look at this option.