Features of a Walk-in Shower

by Kevin Smith Author

With age comes many things: wisdom, experience, memories, and, sadly, a loss of mobility. Old bodies don’t work like they used to. This can lead to having to give up certain activities or needing assistance to accomplish a task that used to be easy to do alone. Personal hygiene shouldn’t be one of these activities. Walk-in showers have several features designed to make keeping clean an easy task for the elderly to continue to do on their own.

Short Step

Most showers have a high step to get over since they’re also bathtubs. Walk-in showers have low steps that are just a few inches high, making it easy to enter the shower.

Anti-slip Flooring

A fall in the bathroom can be devastating for an elderly person and lead to permanent injury. To reduce the chance of a fall in the shower, it has thick anti-slip flooring.

Door with Towel Bar

Another way to minimize the chance of a slip is to have a towel within arm’s reach of the shower. Walking with wet feet on slick bathroom tile can be dangerous. Walk-in showers can have a sliding glass door instead of a curtain. The door comes equipped with its own towel bar so a towel will always be nearby. If a curtain and rod are preferable, that’s still an option.

Seat

Having to stand for the duration of a shower can be difficult, so walk-in showers can have a seat. Both foldable seats and built-in seats are available. They all sit at about the height of an average chair, making it easy to sit down and get back up. And, even with a seat in the shower, there’s still plenty of room to stand.

Easy Controls

The controls of the shower are easy to reach when sitting down. And, there’s a handheld shower wand that makes it possible to rinse off without having to stand up and twist around under the showerhead. The wand has a quick switch so it’s easy to control when it’s on and off.

Storage

There are also built-in caddies to store things, so a separate storage method isn’t necessary and the shower won’t be cluttered up with an object that could potentially fall.

Getting older means a lot of things. But, it shouldn’t have to mean a loss of independence. All the safety and comfort features of walk-in showers make it easy to continue showering alone, even with the loss of mobility that comes with age.