Ways To Make Your Home More Mobility Friendly

As we get older there is no doubt that our mobility is something that will increasingly get harder to do. When you are young, running up and down the stairs is not a problem. The same goes for moving through your home, or making your way out to the garden either via a patio or back door, maybe going down steps becomes much more difficult.

This happened to my mum. Her mobility was dramatically affected as she got older and we had to think of ways to make her home more mobility friendly. Here are a few things we did in her home that made her life easier as she got older.

Installing a stair lift

This was without doubt the first issue that mum had – getting up and down the stairs. Wee needed to find a solution. The first problem was it that the hall, landing and stairs were quite narrow so we needed something that was not going to take over the entire area. It was also important that mum could go upstairs standing up or perched as she found it painful to get up from a sitting position.

We were browsing on the internet and we came across the perfect solution in small space standing stair lifts. As the stairs are narrow it didn’t dominate and other people could walk up the stairs normally. This without a doubt made my mums life much easier.

Installing a mobility bathroom

The bathroom was quite an issue to say the least. It had never been modernised since the property had been built which meant it had the original bath which for my mum was absolutely no good at all. Her mobility simply wouldn’t allow her to get in and out of the bath.

After a discussion we decided the best plan of action was to have a shower room fitted which included hand rails and a seat if required next to the shower. This gave mum a lot of confidence when dealing with her personal hygiene.

Installing hand rails

As I have mentioned my mums mobility is quite limited and on occasion she can become very unsteady on her feet so it was a must to have handrails fitted in places such as the hallway and by the back door. In addition, they were also needed outside the front door in case mum become unsteady so she would then have something to grab onto and prevent a fall.

Installing more steps leading to the garden

One of the things my mum has always loved is her garden. Whether she was planting shrubs and flowers or just sitting on the patio in the sunshine having lunch.

Unfortunately due to her mobility she found it difficult to get in the garden because of the steep steps leading from the back and patio doors. To solve the problem we made the steps easier to handle as well as adding a handrail to hold onto when going into the garden.

These are just a few things we did to help with my mums mobility in her later life and it definitely gave her a much better quality of life and gave her confidence a massive boost.

Have you had to make an elderly relatives home more mobility friendly? I would love to hear in the comments below.