Arthritis is a disorder that affects the joints, rendering them with pain and stiffness. This ailment deteriorates the fine motor skills of the affected individuals.

It compels simple daily jobs like cooking, cleaning, eating, and so on to become arduous.
Symptoms of Arthritis:
Along with inflexible muscle movement leading to a decreased motion range, arthritis displays a few symptoms. They are:
• Reddening and swelling of the joints
• Severe muscle pain
• Itchy skin
• Abrupt weight loss
• Fatigue, dizziness and nausea

Types of Arthritis:
Arthritis can be of different types. In total, there are over a hundred different varieties. The most common ones include:
• Osteoarthritis: Occurs with age and affects the finger, hip and knee joints.
• Rheumatoid Arthritis: This autoimmune disease affects the joints of the hands and feet.
• Ankylosing spondylitis: This type of arthritis results in the inflammation of the joints of the spine.
• Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: This rheumatic disease with no definitive cause, predominately affecting children, results in joint swelling, pain and inflammation.
• Septic Arthritis: This contagious arthritis attacks children and adolescents and begets acute joint and bone infections.
Effects of Arthritis on Kitchen Work:
Arthritis primarily results in decreased muscle and joint movement. It limits hand agility, making it difficult to hold objects comfortably and for extended periods.
Individuals need to have a healthy diet to treat the ailment, and hence, the need for cooking arises.
However, the act of cooking becomes a challenging task for arthritic patients. They find it gruelling to chop the fruits and vegetables, picking up bowls and pots or even stirring with ladles. The need to stand for a long time and washing the cooking utensils becomes a demanding job.
Cooking Appliances to Aid Arthritic Patients:
cooking with arthritis is no less than a punishment. Thus, there is an assorted list of devices to assist arthritic patients.
Some kitchen tools for arthritic hands include:
• Jar Gripper: Due to limited strength of the hands that result from arthritis, opening and closing jars and bottles become arduous. For this purpose, silicone jar grippers are available in the market. It creates a better grip on the lid of the bottle or jar and allows one to open them with minimal strength.
• Food Chopper: Chopping, slicing and dicing require fine motor skills and control. It becomes difficult due to arthritic joint stiffening. Hence, patients can use food choppers to slice and dice. The device has concealed blades that reduce the risks of injury.
• Rice Cooker: Cooking rice takes a long time and a continuous lookout for several issues. Rice cookers eliminate all of these factors and allow for automation of the entire process.
• Electric Fruit Peeler: This device has completely automated the fruit peeling process. Hence, it requires no human intervention.