Upper limb prostheses are great. We cannot say enough about them. But we know there are times when a person isn’t wearing their device, like first thing when they get up, before they go to bed, or maybe a break in the middle of the day to give their residual limb a rest. Or maybe they haven’t received a prosthesis yet – we offer a Comprehensive Accelerated Fitting Process™, but insurance providers may take some time to approve the requested device. There are also many tasks that a prosthesis can help with, but maybe one doesn't have a prosthesis that matches up with their goals. For instance, perhaps they wear a passive silicone restoration, and while it looks like a sound hand, it doesn’t offer the same function as a body-powered device. Whatever the reason, we’ve gathered up some advice about how to operate in a two-handed world when you only have one hand available. If you happen to have a bilateral limb difference, we have a lot of information about that, too.

Let’s start with a few basics in the bathroom. Brushing teeth can be done using a pump dispenser or even toothpaste tablets if you’d rather not deal with the messy gel at all. Shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and lotion? Again, pump dispenser you may need to invest in a few of those. As for basic hand washing of one hand, a small suction scrub brush that you can stick to the inside of the sink should do the trick, allowing you to clean every part of your sound hand.

For nail clipping, check out this one-handed nail clipper:

We have more information in these articles about bathroom hacks, hand washing and larger bathroom remodeling projects.

Moving on to the kitchen, there are so many gadgets out there to use. There are rocker knives, Dycem®, Pan Pickles, one-handed jar openers and this sandwich making station that our patient John uses:

We have articles about eating, cooking, cutting, organizing and baking that can help anyone learn how to do those things one handed and also modifications that can be made so that a prosthetic device can be of use in the kitchen. Our article Life Hacks for People with an Upper Limb Difference also has a section of kitchen hacks.

Getting dressed can be another source of difficulty. Never fear though, there are a lot of assistive devices you can use. For instance, a sock-donner, adaptive clothing or this handy Pocket Dresser:

There are lots of tips in our article Clothing Options for People with an Upper Limb Difference and even more ideas in our article Adaptive Clothing: Tips and Tricks for People with a Bilateral Upper Limb Difference, including more information about the L-shaped tool below that our patient, Gerry, always packs when traveling:

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What else is difficult to do with one hand? Driving? Typing? Video gaming? Yes, we have answers for all those things too. If you’re a parent, we have a whole series about doing parenting stuff with one hand, starting with babies and going all the way through teenagers. We also have an article about various home improvements to make, another article about universal design, one about energy conservation and work simplification and another about the best adaptive tools out there.

Is navigating this world with one hand easy? No. Is it possible? Yes! With some adaptation, a little gumption and a lot of fortitude, our patients have achieved so much, and, thankfully, told us about their experiences, which we can then tell you about.

Would you like to become one of our patients? We’d love to meet with you and learn more about what you are looking for in a prosthesis. Please contact us to set up a complimentary consultation. If you have any suggestions or adaptive ideas to share, please comment below.

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