Parkinson’s News Forums Forums Living ​With​ ​Parkinson’s Do you use adaptive clothing or equipment? If so, which items are among your favorite and why?

  • Do you use adaptive clothing or equipment? If so, which items are among your favorite and why?

    Posted by mary-beth-skylis on March 6, 2023 at 4:45 pm

    A few months ago, I got my dad some adaptive clothing and footwear. At first, he was hesitant to use it. But before long, he expressed his appreciation for the shoes, in particular. Instead of lacing them up every day, he could just slip them on in preparation for his athletic classes. 

    Do you use adaptive clothing or equipment? If so, which items are among your favorite and why?



    mary-beth-skylis replied 1 year ago 7 Members · 9 Replies
  • 9 Replies
  • kevinon

    Member
    March 7, 2023 at 2:54 pm

    I’ve got socks with rubbery foot-pads.   They make me feel more secure when walking around the house.    When my daughter was just learning to walk she had socks very similar to them.

    kevino

  • Jeanette Jagst

    Member
    March 8, 2023 at 12:11 am

    My husband has had Parkinson’s for over 29 years.  He likes shirts with stud fasteners. For footwear, I recently purchased Billy shoes for him.  Now he doesn’t want to wear other shoes.  These shoes look like other lace up footwear but they actually zip up.

  • julesbunny

    Member
    March 9, 2023 at 11:48 am

    Great question. My husband wears 2 sets of knee pads and they are quite thick. He has 10 to 15 falls or potential falls a day and with these he stops the damage that comes with hard falls forward by probably quite some. He is 60 years old, has DBS, is overall pretty lucky in that falls are his worse side effect. Speech would be the second.

    The products were Deuser and Asics and bought from Germany and Spain, but I you can only get them from Europe. They aren’t skate boarding knee pads or elbow pads, they are quite different. The other styles can be bought on Amazon.com similar style: Soudittir, JYBTAA pads, Eulant, Rawxy Volleyball knee pads actually look like they could work, but they may be too soft. The knee when fallen on, really needs quite a double thickness. Incredible how they have helped him. He tried the hip pads too but they were too bulky and looked awful under trousers. They fit into most trousers, but not stovepipe jeans LOL.

    Anyway – just thought someone may not have thought of this if they are having falls. They really do work.

  • reuben-altman

    Member
    March 9, 2023 at 1:01 pm

    Mary Beth – I have fallen into a rabbit hole on this site and hope that you can help as I began on your query here.  I began following this thread and somehow got into a “RON” question thread about Naturopathic Treatments that I didn’t realize had initiated back in March 22.  As it is March 23 it was clear to me now that I thought I was in a consistent and current sequence.   Anyway, in this thread actually a year old, I cam upon a participant contribution from Dean C Kramer, MD gastroenterologist that had offered a free copy of a pamphlet that I wanted to read and responded to his message #26709 requesting the pamphlet.  Today I received an irrelevant email from another participant – maybe I because I had signed on to receive ongoing contributions to whatever thread I was in at the time, I don’t know.  Can you help me by contacting this Dr. Kramer requesting an email to me or to you (eventually to me with his pamphlet or how to access) or please let me know to forger it.  Not a critical matter of course.  But some productive response would help.

    • mary-beth-skylis

      Moderator
      March 14, 2023 at 10:53 am

      Hi Reuben,

      Thank you for your message. I’ll send you a private message in just a minute.

  • carol-zavalney

    Member
    March 9, 2023 at 4:15 pm

    Kiziks makes slip on tennis shoes that are very cool.  Jerry has a very wide foot and they didn’t work for him but hey, I have two pair now!

    • mary-beth-skylis

      Moderator
      March 14, 2023 at 10:53 am

      Carol, My dad LOVES the Kiziks. I think I’ll have to stock up his closet with them. He told me they’re basically the only shoes he wears at this point.

  • john-citron

    Member
    March 9, 2023 at 9:35 pm

    I wear Velcro-strapped shoes instead of laced ones. This makes putting my shoes on and off easy and it doesn’t require me to fumble with the laces.

    I also use a DELL All-in-One PC to display my sheet music. Using Power Music Professional and  a PDF reader, Xodo I can load  up the music and easily turn the pages by touching the display or sliding my fingers on it to turn the pages instead of fumbling to grab the corners of a book and not turning the pages in time.

  • caroline-james

    Member
    March 14, 2023 at 3:06 pm

    My husband was diagnosed 7.5 years ago. In the last several years he is having trouble with blepharospasms…not being able to keep his eyes open. He has been receiving Botox shots around both eyes.  He has also tried Dysport. Both only last 3-4 weeks. Medicare only covers these shots every 3 months. To pay out of pocket in between times would costs thousands of dollars. We have tried an appeal to Medicare but the say no.  His supplemental plan, Medical Mutual says no also. He was diagnosed at age 59, so needless to say this is very frustrating to him not to be able to keep his eyes open much for two months. It affects his balance, his gait and EVERYTHING involved with daily living. We are not getting much guidance from his neurologist and we are both getting depressed. Has anyone here had this issue or does anyone have any suggestions for us. Thank you.

    • mary-beth-skylis

      Moderator
      March 15, 2023 at 11:31 am

      Caroline, I can’t even imagine how awful it’d be to not be able to open your eyes. Have you considered getting an opinion from a secondary neurologist? I wonder if someone else might be able to help.

Log in to reply.