Good Hygiene and Safety Come Together in a Walk in Bathtub

Walk in bathtub

My grandmother comes from the old country. To briefly explain what that implies all I will say is that she is very active even though she is pushing 90, and she is tough as nails. Therefore, it was quite a shock to us all when she developed painful arthritis just a few months ago and had an unfortunate fall that made long periods of standing very difficult. Showering became very difficult for her, and so for a while she tried to use a bathtub instead.

Unfortunately, as anyone suffering from an injury or restricted movement knows, the act of going from standing to sitting in a bathtub can be painful and dangerous. It quickly became clear for us that the bathtub would not work, and that was when we began to pay attention to advertisements for walk in bathtubs. Even though the walk in bathtub commercials were especially corny, we were willing to overlook the poor marketing if it meant that my grandmother could have her freedom again.

Before deciding on the walk in tub we briefly considered a walk in shower. The shower would probably be less costly, and we could have outfitted it with a plastic seat and handrails for safety. My grandmother quickly reminded us that a tub would be much better for her arthritis.

Some of our neighbors expressed concern that the walk in tubs tended to leak, took forever to fill, forever to drain, and required larger water heaters than most houses are equipped with, but none of that turned out to be true. According to some of our neighbors walk in bathtubs were a plague upon humanity. We spoke in depth with a contractor who specialized in walk in bathtubs and he allayed all our fears. It was true, some houses did not have a large enough water heater but ours did, and he made sure of it before moving forward with us. As far as leaking was a concern, we picked out a quality model and have yet to have an issue!

We also learned from the contractor that certain models had made up for the issues concerning fill time and drain time with more efficient faucets and drains. We made sure that the model we selected came with those types of water control efficiency.

Life was much easier for my grandmother once the tub was installed. She has regained some of her freedom, she benefits from reduced arthritis pain because she has the ability to soak in a hot tub, and we know that she is safe. Handrails, seating, and anti slip features mean that we do not have to worry about her anymore. Research more here.

18 comments / Add your comment below

  1. I get that these walk in tubs are safe because you can walk in and there are handrails and seats but it scares me that the water can get so high that you could really drown in them if something bad were to happen.

  2. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  3. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  4. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  5. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  6. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  7. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  8. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  9. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  10. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  11. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  12. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  13. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  14. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  15. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  16. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  17. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

  18. You know you can drown in a regular bathtub too, right? A walk in tub has no more water in it than a hot tub. Actually I would bet that they hold significantly less water. If drowning is a concern then maybe the person using it needs supervision?

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