Tips for Helping Your Senior Get Dressed After a Stroke

Strokes affect so much of your elderly family members normal abilities to handle daily tasks. As your senior is recovering from a stroke, one task that might be particularly frustrating for her could be getting dressed. Its a simple task, but its now so much more difficult.

The Clothing Itself Matters

Clothes that your senior wore effortlessly before her stroke may be very difficult for her to manage now. Clothes with buttons, zippers, and snaps may require more dexterity than shes got at the moment. Making a shift to clothing that slips on or that uses Velcro attachments instead can make a big difference. Its a good idea to experiment a little bit and determine what works best for your senior.

She Needs Support While Standing

Putting on some pieces of clothing, especially clothing on the lower half of her body, might require your senior to stand or at least to be able to maneuver part of her lower body. Its vital that she has some sort of support while doing that, because balance is likely to be a big problem. Sturdy pieces of furniture or a handrail that youve installed into a wall stud can be just the solution.

Staying Seated While Dressing Helps

You might want to encourage your elderly family member to stay seated as much as possible while shes getting dressed. This might be a new approach for her, but it can help her to remain much safer and hopefully avoid a fall. It can also help if you lay out her clothing in a pile, with the last items shell put on at the bottom of that pile.

Having Help from Another Person Improves Safety

If your elderly family member is having significant problems due to her stroke, it makes sense to have someone help her to get dressed. This can be a touchy situation, though. Most people havent had help getting dressed in a long time and this can be incredibly embarrassing. Home care providers can really ensure that your senior doesnt feel diminished or less than while they help her. Theyve got experience assisting people with all sorts of health issues and they can teach her some tips, too.

Its never a good feeling for someone to have a normal activity suddenly become an impossible task. Your elderly family member may have some significant therapy to go through before she can take over dressing herself again. Until then, however, you and home care providers can help her to manage getting dressed as safely as possible.