Arthritis pain and stiffness in the hand and wrist can make it difficult to carry out many activities of your daily life. Fortunately, there are many assistive devices designed to help you with your daily tasks.

Writing

There are many assistive devices that hold your pencil or pen to help ease your hand and wrist arthritis pain. You may also wish to try roller-ball pens since they move easier on paper than pencils or ballpoint pens. Instead of writing checks each month, you may want to set up online checking with your bank. You may also be able to order large-sized checks from your bank to make writing easier. If you use a computer, you need to have a wrist and hand rest attachment for your keyboard.

Phoning

A large keypad requires less effort to punch in the numbers. In addition, speaker phones can allow you to hold a conversation without having to hold the phone next to your ear. Head set phones can also help out.

Getting Dressed

Many companies offer clothing for people who have physical challenges. Instead of having buttons or zippers, these clothes come with Velcro�. You can also purchase dressing aids such as buttoners and unbuttoners, zipper openers, and sock or shoe aids. There are also elastic shoelaces that allow you to take your shoes on and off without unlacing them.

Cooking

You will find there are many catalogs that sell assistive devices to help with cooking, eating and drinking. An electric can opener is a basic for the kitchen and you may wish to consider a bottle opener. Using lightweight dishes and pots and pans will put less stress on your hands and wrist. Use knives that are intended to reduce the strain on your hands by letting you use your entire arm when preparing foods.

Bathing

You may wish to install an automatic faucet with a sensor that dispenses water at a predetermined temperature. You can install wrist blades to help you turn the faucets. Wrist blades are wider handles that allow you to turn the faucet by pushing with your wrist, forearm or hand.

You can buy most of these assistive devices in department stores, medical supply stores, through specialized mail-order catalogs, or through medical assistance web sites.