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Living with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) can make everyday tasks – like cooking – challenging. For some, the pain can be so overwhelming even holding a knife can be difficult. Limited mobility, fatigue, weakness, stiffness and swelling can also make standing in the kitchen for long periods of time challenging. But with the right adaptations and tools, your kitchen can become a more comfortable space and cooking a far more manageable task.
A few practical things you can do to make cooking and kitchen tasks easier include:
There are also plenty of adapted tools and appliances out there that can make cooking with CRPS far easier. These can be purchased online and at various retailers.
Break down tasks so you’re spending less time in the kitchen
If you have limited mobility in your hands or fingers, it can be difficult to open cans even with a ring pull, so a ring pull can opener is a great buy that can make day-to-day life so much simpler. They’re fairly cheap too – you can get one for around £4.
A mess-free way to open cans at the touch of a button, leaving smooth edges so you don’t cut yourself on the can. Burning Nights CRPS Support trustee Lisa Davis, who has lived with CRPS since 2011, says: “An electric can opener is incredibly useful, negating the need to use strength or dexterity – one simple button to push, then the can is open.”
Peeling vegetables is often a tedious task and can be really difficult to manage if you have chronic pain. With an electric peeler you place the vegetable in the machine and it rotates, peeling a potato in around 10 seconds. This makes it a hugely handy gadget for every day. If you eat a lot of mashed potatoes, it might be worth investing in an electric potato masher too.
If you need to prepare food using just one hand, a spread/chopping board with spikes comes highly recommended from Burning Nights CRPS lead volunteer coordinator Kelly Wright who found it a “…game changer for food prep.” The spikes and raised lip hold the food in place, allowing you to chop, slice and spread without it sliding around.
To save you walking back and forth across the kitchen carrying heavy ingredients or appliances, a kitchen trolley or cart can be used to ferry things, as a prep station or even a mobile table – many have fold-out tops so you can expand it into a small table.
Height-adjustable stools with back support reduce fatigue and stress on your joints and muscles, allowing you to sit while you cook or meal prep. Perching stools are slightly tilted, making it easier to stand rather than from a full sitting position and are designed to reduce pressure on your hips and knees. Burning Nights CRPS trustee Lisa says: “A perching stool is fantastic. If you can't stand for any length of time, it enables you to do a cooking task without having to stand, whether that be chopping vegetables or stirring a pan."
Standing for even a short time on a hard kitchen floor can be painful. Anti-fatigue mats are cushioned to make standing more comfortable, and reduce pressure on your feet, knees and back. Place in front of the hob or sink to make cooking or cleaning up more comfortable.
These have a raised tilting platform and are used with any standard kettle to help you pour water with little effort and reduce the risk of spills from boiling water. You could also try a one-cup hot water dispenser. These are a bit more expensive but can boil a cup of water in under a minute. Simply press the button when you want a cup of tea or coffee.
Ergonomically designed to reduce strain and pain with thick, angled handles making them easier to grip, these tools keep hand and wrist at a natural stress-free angle.
A one-finger cutting tool like The Nimble, is worn on the finger like a thimble and can be used to open food packaging. Also handy outside the kitchen as it can be used to open parcels, cut sticky tape and open envelopes.
These can be expensive but are well worth the initial spend as they’ll speed up your meal prep – chopping, grating, slicing, blending and mixing, to save you time and energy.
Cooking can feel daunting when you have CRPS but making a few changes to your kitchen and buying specially designed tools can make a huge difference, reducing pain and making mealtimes so much more enjoyable.
Have we missed out anything that helps you in the kitchen? Get in touch and let us know.
Check out our other blogs on tips to help you around your home including 8 ways to make your bedroom safer and more comfortable and the best equipment for your bathroom.
With Christmas just around the corner, whenever you do online shopping, you could raise free donations for Burning Nights CRPS Support through Easy Fundraising. Just login to the Easy Fundraising website or app, and the shop or site where you make your purchase will send a donation to us at no extra cost to you.
For more general techniques to help you manage your CRPS symptoms, see Living with CRPS, and for more on what to eat and cook when you have CRPS, see our article on diets.
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