Blog

We love to hear and share stories about our customers and how they have been using gripping aids in their lives. Have a read for tips, experiences and motivation from our amazing customers as they share how they have adapted to the world around them.

For your chance to feature here, why not contact marketing@activehands.com with a bit about you & how our gripping aids have made a difference in your life.

Asking Your Questions: How can I get involved in sport/ exercise with a disability?

Tina weightlifting with Limb Difference aid

Time for the penultimate article of our Asking Your Questions series on getting involved in sport! If you’ve been hibernating for the last few months you can check out the first six on our news page! Time for Question #7… How can I get involved in sport/ exercise with a disability? You guys are clearly very active – lots of ideas and motivation to get out there! It’s so easy to get involved in sport even with some sort of disability. I compete with a fantastic group of adapted athletes of all varying degrees of ability (Team Adaptive Crossfit) on…

Tetraplegie, Schlaganfall, Rett Syndrome, Rückenmarksverletzung, Multiple Sklerose, Zerebralparese/Zerebrale Kinderlähmung

We’re still going strong with our Asking Your Questions series – this time the topic is exercise with a disability. You can check out the first five on our news page! Time for Question #6… Where can I exercise with a disability? Once again we were overwhelmed with responses – here are just a few! Everywhere, I did kids activity holidays every summer in foreign countries. I canoed around Brittany without any aids. I did archery and horse riding and bouldering in many different locations. I grew up doing martial arts before choosing Crossfit. Don’t let your disability be your…

Winter sports gripping aid being used on sit ski. Suitable for reduced hand function: tetra, quad, cerebral palsy, SCI, spinal cord injury, stroke and more.

As the days get shorter and colder, we’re all looking for ways to make our lives simpler. Here at Active Hands we’ve scoured through ‘lifehacks’ for poor hand function and now we can proudly say we stock more than 25 of the best products we’ve come across, as well as our own brilliant gripping aids. We love those little things which make life easier, and we know that Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists love to visit our online shop for all their clients’ gripping needs! So, here we’ve ranked our top 10 winter disability ‘lifehack’ products: 1) Socks with loops – the…

Alex using General Purpose aid in gym. Adaptive gym equipment. Suitable for reduced hand function: tetra, quad, cerebral palsy, SCI, spinal cord injury, stroke and more.

We’re still going strong with our Asking Your Questions series. You can check out the first four on our news page! Time for Question #5… Does exercise affect mental well-being? We had an overwhelming number of responses to this one! You guys clearly value exercise a lot – and our products can certainly help with that! “Personally I find that sport and exercise does help with mental well-being. It’s common to hear about how sport/ exercise releases endorphins, however I think that’s just a small part. When I first got ill and needed a wheelchair, after six months I…

We’re still going strong with our Asking Your Questions series. If you’ve missed the first few why not check them out? We’ve asked: ‘Why is rehab/ exercise important after injury?’, ‘When should rehab begin after stroke?’ And ‘What does sport mean to you?’ As we dive headfirst into the Christmas shopping season, with back-to-gym January just around the corner, independence can make a big difference. Introducing question #4… What does independence mean to you? And how have you achieved it? You guys all prioritised the everyday things, and it’s great to hear how you adapt tasks to…

If you’ve been keeping your ear to the ground, you’ll know all about our #AskingYourQuestions series. We’ve had a couple of weeks off from this series due to some serious excitement at Active Hands: you can read about it here! We’ve already asked ‘Why is Rehab/ Exercise Important After Injury’ & ‘When Should Rehab Begin After Stroke’ and our wonderful community have not disappointed! In this mini-series we’re publishing responses from across our social media sphere and some individuals we contacted directly. Our first two questions focused on rehabilitation and when it should begin, now to talk about the ‘Active’…

Well we made it, the final Monday of disability employment awareness month. And if you weren’t aware of it beforehand, after five blog entries of me prattling on about it, you sure as s*** must be by now! We’ve heard from several different people, offering varying different opinions and perspectives on not only looking for employment as a person with a disability, but also being accepted into the workplace as a person with a disability; seeing very much the good, the bad and the ugly sides of things. But what if you or someone you know are wanting to get…

So here we are, nuzzled comfortably into the ample bosom of the 4th week of disability awareness month. This week I talk to Shaun who, after three and a half decades in a wheelchair, knows all the ins and outs of life after spinal injury, including the ups and downs of seeking employment. This is his story… Shaun Year of injury & cause: 1983, swimming pool accident Age at time of injury: 14 Current age: 49 Injury level: C5 complete At the time of his injury, Shaun was a schoolboy with no previous experience of employment. He spent the best…

Hello and welcome back! In our 3rd week of disability employment awareness month, I talk to Jamie, a young man whose enthusiasm for getting back to the career he loved quickly became a nightmare, which saw him fighting numerous battles everyday just to keep his job. This is his story… Jamie Year of injury & cause: 2014, RTA (car crash) Age at time of injury: 31 Current age: 35 Injury level: T4 complete Prior to his injury, Jamie had worked several steady jobs including shop assistant, bar manager and teacher. In fact, only a week before his injury, Jamie had…

This month, we’ve been running a series of short articles taking a look at some of the common questions our customers discuss. Harnessing the power of our community, we’ve been asking you all the big questions, in the hope that we can advise and motivate each other. In part 2 of this series, we speak to stroke survivors and those who work with them, about their approaches to rehabilitation. Here we publish some of their responses (If you missed it, check out part 1 of our series here). Now for question #2… When should rehab begin after stroke? It is…