What Are The Best Drinking Glasses For Arthritic Hands?

Many drinking glasses are designed to make the experience of drinking easier on arthritic hands. It may take some trial and error, but there is a drinking glass out there for you or a loved one, that will make drinking a whole lot easier. You just have to find the right glass with the help of this article.

Many drinking glasses have been adapted for easier use. These include:

  • Tw0-handled mugs
  • Cups with sippy lids
  • Spillproof cups
  • And cups with internal handles

Each of these cups was adapted with specific disabilities in mind, and these four examples are created for easier use with arthritic hands. Each adaptation is a tool to allow for more independence and easier drinking, whether creating a longer handle, adding more handles, or adapting the cup around the handle.

Old man suffering from pain and rheumatism, What Are The Best Drinking Glasses For Arthritic Hands?

Two-Handled Mugs

The first adapted drinking glass is a two-handled cup. These are exactly what they sound like, a mug, usually plastic, with a handle on each side. This is good for arthritic hands because a handle is easier to grasp than the mug would be, and having a handle on each side allows for weight dispersion between both hands instead of one.

A product like this will give you the confidence to drink independently without losing your grip and dropping the cup. Some more adaptations can be made to cups with two handles, such as a wider base to avoid spills, a spout or straw to allow for drinking without needing to angle the cup, and more.

Check out this two-handled mug. It has three main adaptations to make it easier to drink from, including two handles, a sippy lid, and a wide base to avoid spills.

Click here to see this on Amazon.

Cups With Sippy Lids

Kid's plastic sippy cup

Sippy cups for adults with arthritis are mainly used to avoid spills. The spout on the lid helps to guide the liquid into your mouth. This is good for any lack of control you may have because of arthritis if you have trouble holding the cup still or guiding it to your mouth in any way.

Also, if this cup is dropped, the lid will keep the fluid inside of the cup instead of an open-mouthed cup which would let the liquid pour out. Sippy cup lids are great, but straws are another great tool, which will be talked about in the next section.

This product is a great example of a cup with a sippy lid (as well as a double-handled cup). It is similar to the last product mentioned, although it differs in looks.

Click here to see this product on Amazon.

Spill-Proof Kennedy Cups

Kennedy cups are an excellent choice for people with arthritis in their hands. They are spillproof, have a stable straw, and a long handle for easier grip. Each adaptation makes something as simple as drinking water or juice that much easier. They also usually hold about eight ounces of water, keeping them lightweight.

These are especially great because they can be tilted as needed, even upside down. This makes them easy to drink from without much grip strength. The straw also helps as it adds more height to the cup, allowing the cup to be held lower and require less range of motion.

Check out this Kennedy spillproof cup. There are many benefits to this type of cup, as mentioned above.

Click here to see it on Amazon.

Cups With An Internal Handle

Cups with an internal handle may sound weird, but it is a relatively simple concept. With a hole through the center, this cup is used to allow for easier grip. By placing your hand through the hole, you can hold the cup with much less grip strength, as your hand is doing the brunt of the work instead of your fingers.

This is perfect for people with arthritis as it can be excruciating to grip cups and handles. Instead of struggling with handles, with this cup, you would be able to hold the cup up and maneuver it with very little gripping, allowing for a much less painful experience. Also, because you are not working so hard to maintain their grip, it gives you more control.

This cup can be an extremely handy tool and comes in a stylish blue color.

Check here on Amazon to see more.

Which Is The Best Drinking Glass For Those With Arthritis?

There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to which drinking glass will work best for you or your loved one with arthritis. As mentioned previously, the best thing you can do is work through a trial and error process to find out what adaptations work best for you.

There are a few things to mention, besides the previously stated adaptations, that you will need to consider. One is the material of the cup. If you are prone to dropping cups, you will not choose a glass cup.

Plastic or metal cups are better for durability. With that being said, it is essential that the cup be lightweight to help with control and grip. Because of this, plastic may be better than metal as it is lighter.

Another thing to consider is whether you want hot or cold liquids inside. If you want both, you will need to find a correctly insulated cup which may be more expensive and harder to find. If you are just looking for a cup to hold cold liquids, a basic plastic would be a great choice with your preferred adaptations.

Senior man holding a cup of tea to keep his hands warm in winter

How Do You Open A Bottle Of Water With Arthritis?

This is a very common question. Many people are concerned because water bottle lids seem to keep getting smaller and smaller, which can be challenging to open if you have arthritis. There are many tools to help with this. The first one is a multi-use tool that can be used to open jars, bottles, and cans.

This tool is commonly just called a jar opener. It is a long tool with many different sized openings for each container that may need to be opened. The idea is that it gives you more leverage by adding more space to grip, therefore allowing your grip strength to get stronger.

There are many different styles, but most look just like this one. This tool truly changes how independent you can be despite your arthritis. These tools are relatively easy to use and store well in a kitchen.

You can find this jar opener on Amazon.

Interested in finding out more about how to store drinking water? Read this article, "The Best Container For Drinking Water."

Can Adults Drink From Sippy Cups?

There is no shame in an adult drinking from a sippy cup. They are mainly used to make daily life activities, like drinking, easier. The largest population to use sippy cups, other than children, is the elderly. Although, many people with arthritis use them because their primary purpose is to help avoid spills.

Sippy cups do a fantastic job of avoiding messes. Someone with arthritis may be prone to dropping their cups or knocking them over and spilling them. By using a sippy lid, the occurrence of spilling can be significantly reduced or completely diminished.

Yellow sippy cup for the use of senior adult

What Is A Good Size Water Glass?

A solid rule of thumb with arthritis is that a smaller cup will be easier to grip than a larger one. For that reason, choosing a smaller water glass would be best. To go along with that, you will not want a glass that holds a ton of water, as the weight will be challenging to hold with arthritis. For that reason, an eight to twelve-ounce cup may be best.

What Is The Most Durable Glassware?

This topic was touched on a bit in the section about which drinking cup is best for those with arthritis. It is important to remember that arthritis will affect grip strength and make it easier to drop a cup. For this reason, it is safer to stick to plastic or metal cups as they will be less likely to shatter if they fall and hit the ground.

Man smiling holding metal glass

With all this information on different drinking glasses to try, you may be worried about replacing your favorite cup when it comes time. Read this article to find out more on How Often Should You Replace Drinking Glasses?

Conclusion

With all that in mind, there are many options to choose from as far as adaptations to drinking glasses. Each will allow you to still have independence when drinking water or juice.

Finding the best cup for you may take some trial and error, but there is a cup out there that will help you. Don't stop looking until you find it. Some cups to try are two-handled mugs, adult sippy cups, Kennedy cups, and cups with an internal handle.

Check out this article with reviews on different cups adapted for arthritic hands for more information.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *