We know that phthalates found in PVC are known to have an effect on the body, developing children in particular. One of the main causes of contamination with phthalates is when food or liquid is placed into a plastic container. The phthalates present in these can then leech into food and beverages, which can then transfer to your body. This can cause many problems ranging from cancer to defects in childbirth, or making conception less likely or not at all.

Some of the most dangerous chemicals known to leak out of phthalates is BPA, or bisphenol A. This chemical has little to no effect in small doses, but when ingesting or coming into contact with larger doses of BPA it can have serious effects. These effects had previously been tested on Mice, which resulted in mutations to their reproductive systems. Exposure to BPA can potentially lead to an array of problems in later life.

Hot beverages are the norm in this country, and who doesn’t like a hot chocolate, tea or coffee every now and then? This can be a real worry, as the container you make the hot beverage in can possibly be exposing the user to health risks. However, the main immediate worry with Adults who have impairments to strength of grip, or basic motor skills and children is the risk of spills, potentially resulting in burns, unless covers are used for cups and beakers.

Tenura have produced silicone Cup caps for this very reason!

Cup Caps are designed to create a seal that virtually prevents spills, and is operated by inserting a straw through the centre eyelet. We use silicone instead of PVC; this ensures the product is chemically inert and non toxic. The only additive is an anti-microbial compound, which prevents mould and protects against a range of bacteria, including E-coli, klebsiella and MRSA. This provides a good protection against hot and cold liquids potentially spilling out. The additional benefit of using silicone is that it can withstand temperatures up to 250°C, though we recommend you allow your hot beverages to be cooled slightly before placing a Tenura Cup cap on top.

Tenura Cup caps are available to buy now from our website. For more information please contact us by email or phone.

Frog & Cat children’s anti slip & grip mats brighten up feeding and playtime, they are non-toxic, chemically inert and totally Phthalate free (Phthalates are harmful chemicals, exposure can have adverse affects on your health), unlike products that are manufactured from soft PVC. Instead of adding harmful chemicals to our mats, they are anti-microbial, which provides sufficient protection against harmful bacteria, such as MRSA, E-coli and Klebsiella, aswell as protecting against mould and fungi.

Mothers are delighted with the Tenura frog & cat mats as they can be used as a stabilising mat during feeding and play and also mention the mats can play an important role in focusing the child during activities whilst protecting the surface of the furniture. Where children are concerned, mess can be an ever-apparent problem, but Frog & Cat anti slip and grip childrens mats are easy to clean; you can place them in a dish washer or just use warm soapy water, although an important aspect to remember is, like all of the silicone Tenura range, are only usable and effective on a dry surface and the product itself must also be dry.

Our Tenura anti slip & grip children’s mats comes in two forms, a Green Frog and an Orange Cat, and for the whole month, are priced at just £7.50 each, so head over to the product page and grab yourself a great set of stocking fillers for Christmas

Buy anti slip & grip children’s mats.

A new analysis conducted by the IAC (Independent Age Charity) and SSC (Strategic Society centre) has indicated that of the 2 million elderly people in England have difficulties with everyday tasks such as bathing, cooking and eating.

This is a major problem as these simple tasks are a necessity for many people. Many of Tenura’s products exist to tackle these exact problems. We created our cutlery grips and non abrasive anti slip bathroom stickers with these problems in mind, to help elderly, disabled or average people with everyday tasks making some tasks, which become harder with age less strenuous and stressful.

Slips and falls in a bath tub are a nightmare for any age group, but for those who are elderly and live on their own, it can be a real problem. Other solutions like bath mats can cause more problems than they solve, the mat can coil or lift, creating a lip that you could trip on, and this puts you in a position where a fall is a big possibility. Tenura thought about this problem for a long time, and decided that the best form of slip prevention in a bath or shower was one which would be stuck down permanently, with minimal raised edges, and could be cleaned easily. That way you don’t have the worry of the material becoming a trip hazard, and the issue of having to remove a mat every now and again to clean it, which can be a tedious task. This material is perfect for bare skin applications, as it is non-abrasive, meaning it will not damage bare skin, and will be comfortable underfoot.

Eating and cooking can be a real problem when you get older, as tasks which used to be simple can become a lot harder, such as opening jars and bottles. Even young and able-bodied people struggle to open jars and bottles. The pressure can sometimes be very high, so the lid or bottle cap is very tight. This makes opening the jar/bottle much harder, especially if you suffer from hand impairments such as arthritis or Parkinson’s disease. 

This can be a big problem when this happens a large proportion of the time, as people cannot physically open something they may need to eat or drink. We understand the severity of this problem, and that’s why we created our grip enhancing bottle and jar openers, as they allow a better grip on the lids of jars and bottle tops, without having to exert too much force with your hands.

The elderly and people with hand impairments can find day to day tasks very difficult, and without the proper care or tools, they will continue to struggle. Tenura products offer a simple and cost effective solution to some of these problems, and we hope that they can help as much as possible,(source http://­www.­bbc.­co.­uk/­news/­health-30209059).

Hands are very important to Humans, we use them in everyday life, more than we actually realise. Unfortunately hand movement and grip can be impaired due to age, disability, or injury. This can pose problems as it can make everyday tasks more difficult or next to impossible to accomplish.

Recently, a new training programme to rehabilitate impaired hands has been discovered, with fantastic results. Thanks to a novel new training method, using a virtual reality programme, patients can now attempt activities like using a knife and fork, or pouring liquid out of a bottle without the dangers of spills or injury, this software allows the user to interact with a computer generated copy of a bottle, a knife and fork, or any other object. 

Meaning anything they ‘drop’ or ‘spill’ won’t actually create a mess, or cause themselves injury, they can simply reset, and try again. This software, however, can replicate the weight and force of an object, a computer generated water bottle will have the weight of a real life water bottle and tilting the bottle will cause the weight to adjust.  This is a revolutionary piece of technology as we can now create virtual objects and interact with them, as though they were sat in front of us in real life.

Dr Choi, one of the doctors conducting this training has said that using this simulation program increases the range of rehabilitation methods, to help more patients with impaired hands. In the future they will combine this rehabilitation method with traditional therapy to create a new customized rehabilitation programme. This technology is an exciting discovery, which, in time, could help many other people with different impairments!

Tenura specialises in materials catered to help those with grip impairments, from jar openers, to cutlery grips, we can provide an effective solution, and make simple tasks easier in every day life.

At the Gairdner Foundation International Award ceremony in Canada this year, two of Britain’s leading biomedical researchers, where presented with The Canada Gairdner Award for their research into which molecules cause inflammation and destruction of joints in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Professor Sir Ravinder Maini and Professor Sir Marc Feldmann have been working in the biomedical field for decades, and the award presented was for the research they both performed in the 1980s. These Gentlemen discovered anti-TNF (Tumour necrosis factor) treatment for RA. Anti TNF therapy is now used to block anti bodies, allowing a swift improvement for suffers of rheumatoid arthritis. TNF is a protein messenger molecule, which drives the inflammation in the joints, so by creating the drug, they could prevent inflammation and further damage by effectively blocking TNF.

This research was crucial to enabling major development in effective treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, and since then has had an incredible impact on the world, allowing the correct treatment to be given out to RA suffers  worldwide, giving millions of people a better quality of life. Identifying which molecules cause inflammation and destruction of joints meant that these Gentlemen provided the stepping-stones for organisations to create treatments to try to break down these molecules building in joints, allowing the pain and inflammation to subside for a period. By regularly taking the medication, arthritis suffers no longer have to deal with the pain and difficulty that everyday tasks created for them previously.

Tenura shares this vision of making life easier for those that suffer with impairments to strength of grip, which adds unnecessary difficulties to everyday life. Our silicone jar and bottle openers are just two of our products dedicated to those who suffer from pains in joints, making certain tasks easier to do, and relieving the pain that normally comes with them.

We congratulate Professors Ravinder Maini and Marc Feldmann for their efforts to help people suffering from RA, and outstanding research into the causes of arthritis.

That’s right, we’re having a sale!

All of our products currently have a 25% discount, combined with free shipping on orders over £35, makes now a great time to get yourself a complete range of daily living aids for around the home.
Pop over to the home page and start buying some of our fantastic products, and save yourself some money while you are at it!

http://­www.­tenura.­co.­uk

Tenura anti slip mats have many beneficial uses in helping people maintain an independent living. Did you know that you can use Tenura mats to protect your kitchen surfaces? They not only prevent items from slipping off the surface, but they are also heat resistant, so you are able to rest hot pans and baking trays without marking your surfaces. Placing chopping boards upon them while chopping vegetables and other foods will also prevent slips and potential injuries. With our various sizes and colours available, the possibilities for use are virtually limitless.

Outside of the kitchen, they can be used as grip mats, not only to place things on to prevent them slipping, but to help people with vision impairments locate every day, read more in our old post Tenura Rubber Mats as Visual Aids in the Home.

Use them in the garden greenhouse to place potted plants, or in the garage to line toolboxes, on the bedside cabinet to give things a more stable base to be placed on, or even as a grip aid to use when standing. If you need an anti slip or grip enhancing solution, Tenura mats can virtually solve all problems.

Tenura anti slip mats are non-toxic and easy to use, simply place them on a dry surface and the silicone materials adhesive qualities will do the rest. They are also effortless to clean, just pop them into the dishwasher or use warm soapy water, rinse and leave to dry. The silicone material in Tenura anti slip mats is only effective when it is dry so please ensure they are dry before proceeding to use them.

What have you used Tenura mats for? What could you use one for? Let us know in the comments.

Please make sure you subscribe to our blog, to get updates direct your inbox!

Another year, another success at the annual Naidex exhibition. We’ve had plenty of positive feedback to Tenura products; the diverse range we had on display at the exhibition wowed Occupational Therapists and left a lot of satisfied visitors. There’s nothing more we love than hearing about the impact of our products and how they help people in their everyday life.

Occupational Therapists were pleased as they had such a brilliant alternative to Soft PVC products. Tenura is an antimicrobial product that is completely free of Phthalate’s, making it completely non-toxic, safe to use in any environment. Tenura daily living aids can withstand washing in a domestic dishwasher, and are also completely safe to use in Autoclaves for clinical cleaning up to temperatures of 250oC.

Tenura daily living aids are made from 100% Silicone, the reason they can withstand these high temperatures and more importantly being free of toxins. One significant factor you should take into account when using Tenura is making sure the product is on a dry surface and also the product itself is dry. For example, when using a Tenura Cupcap make sure the cup is dry and also the Cupcap has no liquid or moisture on it before or during application.

There is a new addition to our line of products on the website; Tenura Cupcaps are useful for people with muscle tremors or an unsteady grip to be able to use cups and glasses without spillages. This self-sealing cap will stretch to fit over the top of a cup, glass or beaker of your choice, with a purpose made eyelet to allow a straw to enter for drinking. This will prevent spills even if the cup or glass is knocked over, as a result protecting carpets, clothes and furnishings.

Tenura Cupcaps are made from our 100% non-toxic, durable, antimicrobial silicone, ensuring they are completely safe for the user, and dishwasher friendly.

Tenura Cup Caps can also help with the preservation of freshness for longer than an uncovered drink, slowing down the effects of external temperatures to keep it cooler, for longer. Furthermore, they help to keep dust and other contaminants out.

This product is useful for both domestic and clinical use and available for sale in a pack of two cup caps, one measuring 80mm and the other 60mm in diameter.

Visit the page to purchase or alternatively contact us for more information.

That time of year has arrived again were we head over to the NEC, Birmingham for the annual Naidex Exhibition. This will be taking place from 29th April – 1st May 2014 and it is the UK’s largest disability, rehabilitation and homecare event. Thousands of Occupational Therapist professionals will gather as over 300 exhibitors featuring the most recent products, innovations and even services to aid independent living.

Not only do you get the chance to discover the latest products, you can engage and network with the Independent Living Sectors leading industry. What is more appealing than conducting direct sales and developing rewarding sales deals that you wouldn’t find anywhere else?

Our aims are to generate new friendships and business opportunities as well rekindling connections with old associates. We will be displaying an array of Tenura products, make sure to pick up a free sample pack from our stand. Come chat to our knowledgeable and enthusiastic repre­sen­ta­tives.

We have been exhibiting at Naidex for a couple of years now and it just gets better each year. If you can make it to this year’s exhibition at the NEC, make sure you come see us. We will be situated at Stand C47, don’t miss out on such a remarkable opportunity. We would love to see you all there!