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Designing for the Life Span Segment 4

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Slide 32 of 78

[D]

Slide 32 Content

The grab rail becomes a necessity. However, installations may be arbitrary with regard to placement. Additionally, mounting a grab rail in drywall or plaster without fastening to interior wall studs makes the rail dangerous- potentially ripping from the wall under the load of a person pulling their weight from the surface of the toilet.

• It is preferable to have grab rails mounted closer in to the seat surface of a toilet to expedite the downward thrust from arm strength rather than the weaker pulling strength of the extended arm.
• Both hands and arms should be used accommodated with rails on both sides of the toilet.
• If an older person suffers stroke, there may be hemiplegia- paralysis on one side of the body- one wall rail has a 50/50 chance of being mounted on the correct side of for use in this case.

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The relationship between toilets and wall mounted grab rails varies as the distance varies from the wall to the toilet. Regardless, the difficulty in using grab rails increases when those rails are mounted too distant from the toilet surface. In addition, many elderly vary in strength on the right or left side. For some, hemiplegia or paralysis on one side of the body would make a grab rail on the weak side of the body useless.

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