Shower Chair Health and Safety Tips

Shower chairs can provide you with a great deal of comfort while taking a bath. Just think about how many times your legs felt as if they were going to give way while you were in the shower. There may even have been instances when you were temporarily incapacitated due to an injury and had to be assisted in taking a bath each day. With the help of a shower chair, you can forget about such hassles and concentrate instead on relaxing during this private moment.

Of course, you need to take some health and safety tips into consideration before going out to buy your own shower chair. Read on for some of the most useful shower chair health and safety tips.

1. Safety tips for placing an individual in a shower chair.
If the shower chair you choose has wheels, then you should make sure that all of its wheels are locked before placing anyone in the chair. On the other hand, the chair’s safety bars should be unlocked. The user should be seated with his back properly supported by the chair’s backrest. In case the shower chair’s pad isn’t waterproof, be sure to remove it before the user starts bathing.

2. Safety tips pertaining to how each part of a shower chair should be used.
A shower chair’s safety bar is purposely included in the design to help secure the user in place and prevent him from slipping or falling from the chair while bathing. You may unlock it and then extend it from right to left (or vice versa, depending on where it is located on the chair) such that it is positioned in front of the user’s waist. The wheel lock brakes should be kept secure so as to ensure that the chair remains steady while the user is bathing. Unlock the brakes only when the user is done bathing and has to be moved to another location.

3. Safety tips for bathing with a shower chair.
A wheeled shower chair is ideal for walk-in showers, but may not be advisable for bathrooms with tubs. In this case, a shower chair with its own transfer bench may be the best option. Before a person bathes on a shower chair, it is best to check the water temperature first.

4. Tips in cleaning a shower chair.
Always keep the shower chair clean and dry when it is not in use to make sure that it is always safe to use. Aside from cleaning, a shower chair should also be disinfected. You can choose from a number of sanitising products that can be used as shower chair disinfectants. You may also mix a bleaching solution with a 1:10 bleach-water ratio for this purpose. Make sure that all parts of the shower chair are cleaned.

As long as you keep these tips in mind, a shower chair will surely be one of your best investments ever.