What adaptations and equipment help with cooking after a spinal cord injury?

If somebody is interested in being able to cook, we look at first what’s the set up of their kitchen? Do they have a workspace that they can sit at and do mixing or meal prep? Can they safely access the stovetop or safely put things in the oven? Are they able to use a microwave on a countertop? So first I’m looking at access—can the person get to the areas of the kitchen they need to? In terms of the adaptive equipment with cooking, it’s different for every person. So let’s say somebody enjoys baking but doesn’t have the hand function to hold a spatula. I look at -- is there a piece of equipment I can give them that helps them hold the spatula? Do they have reduced hand function and can’t use a standard can opener? We have adaptive can openers. Are they able to cut, but maybe one hand is stronger than another? We have cutting boards that hold the food for them, so instead of using one hand to hold and one hand to cut, you just need one hand to cut. We have special bowls that have higher edges on one side and lower edges on another to make it easier to access in terms of stirring. The possibilities are endless; if somebody wants to be able to cook, as an occupation therapist I’m going have them try the task and go from there with what equipment they would need to be able to do it their home.

There’s a lot being done right now in areas of universal design that can help with people being able to access the kitchen stove. So I’ve seen how they have ovens set so the burners are just in the front; there aren’t back burners that people have to reach and lean over. One of the neatest things I’ve seen so far is the pasta cooker that’s built into the counter. So, you fill it with water, it heats it up, you add the noodles, it cooks it, something’s pulled out and you don’t have to carry pots of water back and forth and risk scalding. These are higher-level items that are probably not an option for everyone’s home, but I think if those simple things start to be incorporated in all aspects of building, that would be amazing.

Depending on what level of spinal cord injury you have—let’s say you have a C7 or C6 injury where you don’t necessarily have control of your fingers—we use  a lot of rocker knifes to cut things. I also do a lot of adaptations to scissors to help with managing different packaging that you might need to cook something. I also really, really like a tool called “The Gripper”. It’s a custom made, wrist activated reacher and that can be so helpful for getting items from high cabinetry, or even opening the refrigerator and getting something from the drawer. What it does is when you extend your wrist; it closes the end of the reacher. So it’s an awesome tool—it’s lightweight and it’s custom made to fit someone’s forearm and it’s made to put on on their own.