Interviewer: Maya DeBolle
Interviewee: Elenora DeBolle
Relationship: Grandmother
General Information: Elenora has basal thumb arthritis, which means she primarily lacks strength between her thumb and forefinger (what she refers to as “squeeze power”). She has arthritis in both hands, affecting all finger joints in each.
Q1: Can you describe some of the daily tasks that are most challenging for you due to arthritis?
- Buttons: especially with small holes because she lacks the power to force the button through with her thumb.
- Hooks: using cooking tongs to flip meat on the stove, can’t apply the pressure to close tightly around the food.
- Squeezing: specifically for eye drop bottles, which is a significant issue because she has a condition that causes her eyes to become very dry frequently.
- Jewelry: putting in and taking off earrings, specifically pressing the backings into place or pulling them off.
- Opening containers: twisting open water bottles, milk cartons, cleaning products.
- Getting gas: twisting off gas cap and putting it back on at the gas station.
Q2: Are there any tools or devices you currently use to assist with daily activities? How well do they work for you?
- Hooks: plastic hooks that can be used to pry containers open. These no longer work well for her because she is not able to exert enough pressure or leverage. She also finds it difficult to grip the item she is trying to open with the other hand.
- Grip pads: flat rubber pads that provide more grip for twisting lids open. These work fairly well and she always keeps one in her purse, but sometimes encounters the same issue where she is not able to exert enough force while twisting.
- Homemade gas twisting device: PBC-pipe device that my uncle created for her to help with twisting the gas cap off at the gas station. She uses this every time she goes to get gas and has for years, says it works great and she hasn’t seen anything similar online.
- Pliers: small pliers with a tight junction that she uses to open Ziploc bags. She will either hold one side of the bag with the pliers and pull the other side open with her hands, or use two pliers and use them both to pull the bag apart.
- Jar loops: plastic adjustable loops that are able to go around the top of jars and tighten, allowing them to be twisted open. She keeps a few of these in the kitchen and uses them frequently.
Q3: What type of support or feature would make a task easier or less painful for you? (e.g., better grip, adjustable parts, less force required)
Main priority is finding a way to provide the strength/force lacking between her thumb and forefinger so that she is able to squeeze and grip. Some days her hands are able to exert more power than others, but this is generally the biggest issue.
Q4: Do you find that certain movements or actions (like twisting, gripping, or lifting) are particularly painful?
She has had arthritis for a long time, so it does not cause her much pain anymore. She has found that once the knuckle has deformed, it no longer causes her much pain. If her hands are cold, they will hurt, but aside from that they don’t feel more pain from certain tasks than others.
Q5: How would you prefer a device to be designed in terms of weight, size, or appearance?
She has both bulkier and heavier devices that she leaves at home, as well as lighter, more portable devices that she will bring with her when she goes out. In general she prefers that the device will be smaller, but she does like to have both options, especially in the kitchen. Anything too heavy can be difficult to lift up and will also hurt her more if she hits herself on it accidentally, so the device should ideally be strong but fairly lightweight.