My friend has tragically lost a portion of all of her fingers from an illness, and as a result, she's unable to cook. She loves to cook. Are there any devices or aids out there to enable to her hold a knife, etc., until surgery can hopefully restore her abilities? She has both thumbs.

mariaraynal
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4 Comments

mariaraynal September 27, 2010
This is great advice, thank you. And ninadora, I appreciate you taking the time to look up the site and write such a helpful response.
 
ninadora September 26, 2010
i found it!

http://www.n-abler.org/N-AblerII/N-Abler_III_WHO.htm
 
ninadora September 26, 2010
I have one arm and I cook without a prosthetic and I have tried most of the devices out there (and rejected them), but this is really a different situation...
I don't know how well she can grip-- there are strap on utensils but these are generally for eating not cooking....

http://www.youcantoocan.com/Cooking_Aids_C3.cfm?UserID=705207&jsessionid=54305f5c8472$FE$26$3

this site has my favorite cutting board, the rfsu is phenomenal has many features that hold ingredients, jars, etc steady while you work on them, but its not terribly durable. The maple cutting board with the corner guard has nails that stick out from it to skewer the vegetable on to stabilize them while you cut it and lasts for years. They also have several different kinds of knifes most of them worked great for me grip wise but they are not of great quality. I have never used the maddox knife but it sounds good.

the non slip mats are great and I don't use them anymore but writing this reminds me that I should buy some more as they are just very helpful all around the house, for washing dishes, opening jars, cleaning, polishing and scrubbing small items...if you're friend has an occupational therapist she can probably help her with getting some of these things

I don't know the time frame that she will be looking at before she gets surgery but there are prosthetic devices, one company (I'm sorry i just spent 15 mins looking for it with no luck, I hate to think it went out of business) I specifically remember made a whole slew of kitchen accessories that fit into a socket, prostheticians are adept at fitting these things to all sorts of disabilities, but if you go down that route make sure its with someone with REAL experience in upper limb deficiency.
 
drbabs September 26, 2010
Oh, how sad. Sounds like your friend needs an occupational therapist. That's what they do--help people who have different abilities to function as normally as possible. I'm sure a good OT would be able to provide her with aids and therapy for using her hands.
 
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