Medical Condition-Specific Clothing

Buck and Buck designed the original back-zip jumpsuits to help prevent undressing. Why a back-zip design? Out of sight, out of mind! In an effort to preserve the dignity of those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia, we have designed a variety of one-piece garments with a deep back zipper to prevent unwanted undressing. Our jumpsuits have been very successful at reducing or even eliminating potentially embarrassing behavior.

Our jumpsuits are designed to help solve the undressing problem. Many of the jumpsuits look like two piece garments, but have a zipper down the back. The sleepsuits are made without a waist for comfort while sleeping. We created the original design.

You might wonder why an individual with Alzheimer’s disease may need special types of clothing. It all depends upon the stage of the disease and the effect it has upon the person.

Alzheimer’s is a form of dementia characterized by a progressive brain disorder that destroys memory, ability to reason, learn, make judgments and carry out everyday functions often called activities of daily living. Because of the characteristics of this dementia, we realize that a person with Alzheimer’s may have different needs depending upon his or her symptoms of disease.
Buck and Buck has several special Alzheimer’s clothing solutions to meet the challenges that will make dressing easier for the person with the disease. Our solutions help both the senior with the disability of Alzheimer’s, and the caregiver who provides care in the home, nursing home or assisted living facility.
The key to remember about Alzheimer’s in relationship to clothing is that simplicity will lead to success in getting dressed. If the person can dress independently or with little assistance, select items from our Alzheimer’s clothing that have few buttons to contend with, or choose garments with a zipper or even easier are the pull on or pull over the head styles. Fewer steps mean the more probability of success for the person with Alzheimer’s, especially as the disease progresses and more adaptive, special needs clothing become necessary. Select colors that coordinate so that the task of matching shirts with pants or blouses with skirts or pants is easy. It is also helpful to organize dresser drawers so that every item has its separate place with the drawer labeled as such on the outside. You may also organize a closet by grouping items together to make selection easier. This will greatly help the person in their independent dressing steps.

You need to also make certain that the clothing is washable. Spills, other eating difficulties or incontinence problems will require that clothing be washed on a regular basis. Note that all of the clothing that Buck and Buck offers is washable and will maintain shape, color and good looks through multiple commercial launderings.

Let Buck and Buck help you to help your mom or dad maintain dignity through independence in dressing for as long as possible. If the disease progresses to the point of your loved one undressing inappropriately, we have a variety of jumpsuits in our Alzheimer’s collection that make it difficult for the wearer to undress.

The outfits look like two piece garments, but the jumpsuits zip down the back so that the wearer cannot access the zipper inadvertently and undress inappropriately. We have many outfits to choose from for women and for men ranging from nightwear to everyday wear. Preventing inappropriate undressing is a challenge that our jumpsuit design can meet. Please note that jumpsuits in our Alzheimer’s clothing selection should only be worn if a caregiver is present since the wearer cannot toilet without help.

For more information on the disease of Alzheimer’s please visit the Alzheimer’s Association website at www.alz.org

Does Buck and Buck carry clothing styles suitable for the person who has had a stroke? Buck and Buck does carry very suitable stroke clothing styles for seniors. As you look through the catalog, you need to keep in mind the residual weakness or paralysis that the stroke caused to help you to choose the appropriate clothing items.

For example, if the stroke left minor weakness in the arms, most clothing that can be pulled on over the head or pulled up without having to fasten buttons may be the best choice. If the individual is able to manage zippers, we can add large pulls or tabs to assist in the dressing process. VELCRO® brand front closures on shirts are also a great help to the man or woman who may have problems with using buttons. These shirts and blouses look like they button, but in fact the hook and loop tabs behind the plackets make closing the garment very easy. We can make this adaptation to most of our garments. If the stroke has left a paralysis in the arms and the person cannot dress him or herself, choose items that open down the back. The caregiver can assist with the dressing process while the person with the stroke is still sitting on the bed.

If the stroke has left the person with paralysis in the legs, our bilateral side zip pants are useful stroke clothing because the zippers are 22 inches long and the person can be dressed while still lying in bed. The best way to accomplish this is to unzip both side zippers and then place the feet into the pant legs. Pull the pants up to the knees and then turn the person onto one side. Pull the pants up to the waist and then roll the person onto their back. Pull the front of the pants up and close the side zippers. This procedure makes dressing easier on the caregiver’s back and is less cumbersome for the person with the stroke. Our long zippers also facilitate the toileting task since the zippers can be released to the knees making the transfer less of a struggle than using everyday garments with the traditional short zippers.

All of our clothing is easy to care for and has been put though the commercial washing process to meet our easy wear and care standards. If the person with the stroke is incontinent or has issues with spilling food or drink due to the inability to control the muscles in the face and mouth, you should consider having multiple outfits for changes and also look at our protective clothing section of the catalog.

Talk with us if you are unsure about what garments will suit the special needs of your loved one with a stroke and we'll guide you to the right stroke clothing.

The need for a urinary catheter does not have to cause difficulty with wearing certain styles of clothing. Any of our pants for men and women can have a Velcro opening sewn into the inseam or side seam, whichever you prefer to make you more comfortable and to allow access for care and emptying of the urine collection bag. In order to maintain best infection control practice by not disconnecting the catheter from the drainage tubing since the catheter port is a potential path for entry of bacteria into the body, we will suggest a comfortable 12 inch hook and loop closure on the inseam of the slacks that allows the empty drainage bag to be passed through the leg opening and then the drainage bag can be attached to the wheelchair. The integrity of the closed catheter and urinary drainage tubing can be maintained.

If the individual wears a leg bag, we will make an opening from the bottom hem-line of the slacks up to just above the knee for ease of emptying the drainage bag. We put a long zipper on the outside seam of the pant leg to give access to the leg bag. We also carry a urinary drainage bag cover that attaches easily to the frame of a wheelchair. The cover provides some privacy for the person who must wear a urinary catheter.

What type of clothing does Buck and Buck carry for individuals who've had recent knee replacement surgery? Buck and Buck will design clothing to meet your special needs if at all possible. For those who have had recent knee replacement surgery and require easy access to the surgical site while also needing to get dressed for physical therapy, we will insert knee to ankle zippers on any of our women's or men's pants to accommodate you. If your prefer shorts while recovering we will shorten the leg lengths on our sweat or knit pants so that you may exercise freely during knee replacement surgery recovery. If you require a plus size because of a full figure and you don't see the size that you need, just ask us and we'll try to accommodate.

You should also consider the choice of shoes and socks while recovering from your knee replacement. Your shoes and socks should be wide enough to adjust for any swelling in the feet and the soles of your shoes should be of the non-skid variety.

Let us know what your special needs are so that we can help you to look good and feel more comfortable during your recovery period.

Why would someone with arthritis need special adaptive arthritis clothing? Arthritis causes pain and eventual disability due to inflammation of the joints and/or wearing down of the cartilage that covers the ends of the bones. The resultant pain and limitations in movement make it difficult for the senior with arthritis to dress independently. Our adaptive clothing designs are very helpful to the person with disabilities related to arthritis as well as to the caregiver, when assistance with care becomes necessary.

Buck and Buck’s arthritis clothing features easy closures such as VELCRO® brand fasteners or zippers rather than buttons, generous elastic waistbands that make the garment easy to pull on, and necklines in some dresses and tops that allow for easy, over the head dressing. We can also put grab loops into our slacks, culottes and pants that will help the senior with arthritis to pull on their clothing without the assistance of a caregiver.

If the disability from arthritis becomes more severe, our open back clothing designs may be more appropriate. The open back design makes the garment an easy wear adaptive clothing item for the person with arthritis. The dressing process is less stressful to the senior and less strenuous for the caregiver because the garments open completely down the back for ease in dressing while the person with arthritis is in bed or sitting in a wheelchair.

Don't forget about adaptive footwear for the person with arthritis. The most useful footwear may be slip on styles or shoes with hook and loop closures. There may also be a tendency for the feet of the senior with arthritis to swell because of the restrictions in their mobility.

Take a look at our footwear collections for women and men and browse through our extensive catalog for many other dressing ideas.

Does Buck and Buck have Incontinence Clothing? Buck and Buck does have incontinence clothing. The first thing to note is that all of our clothing is able to withstand vigorous washing since we designed our clothing initially for nursing home customers. The person who has incontinency as a problem must be able to have all of their clothing tolerate frequent washing. The second thing regarding incontinence clothing is to ask why does the problem of incontinence occur for the individual. If the elderly person cannot unzip or unbutton a pair of pants quickly enough causing them to have an elimination before they are ready, the problem is with the garments. Buck and Buck solves this problem with our incontinence clothing by replacing zippers or buttons with a VELCRO® brand fly closure or making the waistband of stretchy elastic so that the pants can be pulled down easily. We have these garments already available to you in our catalog.

If the person who is incontinent is confined to a wheelchair or bed, the best choice of our incontinent clothing line would be the open back, side zip or cut away garments. The cut away garments should only be used if the person cannot stand since the seat is cut out of the garment making toileting and personal care easier. The side zip incontinent clothing allows the person to make the transfer from chair to toilet more easily therefore avoiding an urgency problem that may lead to incontinence.

Please look through our catalog and choose the garments appropriate to the problem. If you are unsure about something, just ask us.

Preservation of independence in dressing is a major consideration for people with a dementia. We learned the task of dressing as a child and perform that task every day of our lives, yet due to a change in our mental status as an adult, the simple steps of dressing may be lost. To lose the ability to self dress becomes a factor in some loss of dignity.

Help your loved one with mild or moderate confusion or a dementia to preserve their ability to self dress by following these simple steps:

1. Make a step by step list of the order of dressing for your loved one to refer to and post it on their dresser and closet where the task of dressing is done.
2. Organize dresser drawers in the order of dressing. Underwear in the first drawer, socks in the second drawer, etc. and label the drawers.
3. Coordinate clothing into sets by color, season, casual and dressy.
4. Keep only the clothes for the particular season in the closet/drawers and remove the off season clothing.
5. If your loved one prefers a certain style, keep several coordinated outfits together in sets for easy selection.
6. Check as often as necessary for clothing cleanliness.

Buck and Buck recognizes the need for independence in dressing yet we also know that good looking, easy to wear and care for clothing may be an issue. Let us help you with the clothing needs for your loved one suffering from confusion or dementia. Our customer service representatives will find out your loved ones preferences and help you to set up a wardrobe that will accommodate their needs.

Our clothing features all washable fabrics, generous elastic waistbands, hook and loop closures, over the head styles, easy to manage zippers and non-slip shoes and slippers. If the confused elderly man or woman needs assisted dressing, we also feature a wide range of adaptive clothing styles that will ease the dressing process for the individual and the caregiver.

Contractures are a shortening of either muscles or tendons caused by a variety of conditions. The individual experiences limited range of motion in the affected limb and therefore may have some difficulty in dressing.

Buck and Buck specializes in adaptive clothing designs. Men and women with contractures will find many of our garments helpful in both preserving independence in dressing and in making assisted dressing easy.

One of our styles that you should look at has bilateral, 22 inch long side zippers that make pulling the pants up over legs with contractures easy. Another style is the open back garment that will allow gentle dressing by putting the arms into the sleeves without having to stretch or move the arms to the rear or side. The garments can be pulled gently up the arms and closed down the back with snaps positioned to prevent pressure on the spinal column.

All of our clothing are easy wear and easy care. They tolerate the high temperatures of commercial laundering yet maintain their colors and good looks for a long time. Let us help you with dressing your loved one who has contractures.

Myotonic muscular dystrophy is a form of MD (muscular dystrophy) with an onset that happens in adulthood. Prolonged muscle spasms that occur in this disease may have an impact on a person's ability to perform ADL's (activities of daily living) such as dressing, bathing, walking, cooking, etc.

Swallowing problems can also occur due to weakness in the muscles in the esophagus or throat. Depending upon the individuals impairment, you may find our VELCRO® closure garments helpful as well as most of our women's and men's adaptive clothing items.

Please take a look at our entire catalog for clothes and protective garments that may help you.

The definition of urinary incontinence is the inability to control bladder elimination. As we age urinary incontinence can become a problem that affects many people and has no easy solution.

The cause of urinary incontinence should be explored because there may be a fairly simple solution in some cases. Making behavioral observations is critical and asking questions such as "Are you able to unbutton your pants or unzip the fly easily?" may uncover a different problem. Sometimes the result of lessened ability to perform these simple functions can result in an accident leaving us to think that the person has urinary incontinence when all we need to do is provide them with clothing that they can manage more readily.

Buck and Buck carries pants with VELCRO® brand fly closures that replace the zipper flies. These adaptive pants have assisted many a gentleman to preserve their dignity and maintain their independence in dressing and toileting.
Elastic waist pants with no buttons or zippers are another option provided by Buck and Buck in both our men’s and women’s clothing.

For those who do suffer from urinary incontinence, here is a tip that could help prevent accidents. Encourage a regular schedule of toileting. This can help to reduce the number of incidents, while also improving self-esteem. If possible, see if a time pattern is evident and schedule toileting sessions accordingly.

Take a look at Buck and Buck’s completely washable clothing options for an inexpensive, full wardrobe to meet the needs of the individual with urinary incontinence and reach out to us if you need assistance.

Does Buck and Buck carry clothes to accommodate scoliosis? Buck and Buck does have a variety of full cut garments that will accommodate a scoliosis. For women who prefer a dress, often a garment without a waistline will fit best or you may need to purchase a size up depending upon the style. For a man, most of our shirts should work well. Depending upon where the curvature is located in the spine, you may be more comfortable wearing elastic waist pants rather than pants with the traditional waistbands and zippers.

You may also want to take a look at our clothing designs for those with limitations due to arthritis. These styles were created to make the process of dressing easier. Please also take a look at our extensive clothing collection for other garments to suit your dressing needs.

Often, the elderly with diabetes experience circulation problems due to nerve and blood vessel damage accumulated over the years. This damage is usually most severe in the feet and lower legs. Properly fitting footwear is essential, as socks or shoes that are too tight or too loose can cause irritation and lead to sores that may be difficult to heal. Additionally, those with diabetes may have compromised eyesight, making it harder to examine their feet for redness—an early indicator of pressure points that could develop into sores.

Buck & Buck is sensitive to the dressing needs of individuals with diabetes and offers a selection of shoes, socks, and slippers designed for comfort, warmth, and circulation support. Many of our shoes accommodate varying degrees of swelling, ensuring a proper fit. We also carry socks that promote circulation and feature soft, non-binding materials that stretch to reduce pressure on swollen feet and legs. Some of these socks have moisture-wicking properties and quick-drying fabric—important features for maintaining foot health.

Several slipper designs, such as our Adjustable Booties for men and women, provide warmth to the feet, helping to promote circulation. Additionally, our arm and leg protectors are excellent for individuals with diabetes, as they help prevent skin tears that could lead to infections while also providing warmth to improve circulation.

To explore more diabetes-friendly clothing and footwear options, take a look at our catalog, where you'll find comfortable, functional designs that support foot health and overall well-being.

What is multiple sclerosis clothing? There are varying degrees of progression of the disease of multiple sclerosis. Depending upon the involvement, you would need to choose items of multiple sclerosis clothing that are appropriate for the individual. In the beginning of the disease, often weakness is the problem and the best choices of clothing would be pull on garments, garments with zippers or VELCRO® brand closures.

As the disease progresses, partial paralysis may occur necessitating the choice of some pull on items or side zip pants from our multiple sclerosis clothing collection. Of course, you need to evaluate the level of ability of the person to self dress and choose what would be most helpful to her or him. If the individual has complete paralysis, the best items would be our open back styles since the person will be confined to a wheelchair or bed. We have many garments for both women and men in our open back, multiple sclerosis clothing line.

If the person uses a walker or is confined to a wheelchair, don't forget to look at the accessory items we carry for making living with assistive devices easier such as walker bags, wheelchair bags and cup holders and more.

Please take a look through our catalog for other dressing ideas and clothing designs.

The individual with dementia may need adaptive clothing depending upon the type of disease and the effect it has upon the person. Alzheimer’s is a form of dementia characterized by a progressive brain disorder that destroys memory, ability to reason, learn, make judgments and carry out everyday functions often called activities of daily living. Because of the characteristics of this dementia, we realize that a person with Alzheimer’s may have different needs depending upon his or her symptoms of disease.

Buck and Buck has several special Alzheimer’s clothing solutions to meet the challenges that will make dressing easier for the person with the disease. Our solutions help both the senior with the disability of Alzheimer’s, and the caregiver who provides care in the home, nursing home or assisted living facility.
The key to remember about the dementia of Alzheimer’s in relationship to clothing is that simplicity will lead to success in getting dressed. If the person can dress independently or with little assistance, select items that have few buttons to contend with, or choose garments with a zipper or the pull on or pull over the head styles. Fewer steps mean the more probability of success. Select colors that coordinate so that the task of matching shirts with pants or blouses with skirts or pants is easy. It is also helpful to organize dresser drawers so that every item has its separate place with the drawer labeled as such on the outside. You may also organize a closet by grouping items together to make selection easier. This will greatly help the person with dementia in their independent dressing steps.

If the disease progresses to the point of your loved one undressing inappropriately, we have a variety of jumpsuits for women and men in our Alzheimer’s collection that make it difficult for the wearer to undress. The outfits look like two piece garments, but the jumpsuits zip down the back so that the wearer cannot access the zipper inadvertently and undress inappropriately. These garments should only be worn if a caregiver is present since the wearer cannot toilet without help.

Take a look through our catalog for many other garment and dressing ideas.

Does Buck and Buck carry Parkinson’s Clothing? Buck and Buck does carry a line of clothing that is very helpful to the person diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Because the person with this disease may have issues with balance, tremors and lack of finger dexterity, you need to think about the type and degree of symptoms that the individual is experiencing. Our Parkinson’s clothing addresses the problems related to dressing.

Balance, or the lack of, is handled in our Parkinson’s clothing with the varied selection of easy, over the head and pull on styles that require minimal time standing while dressing. The person should sit on the bed or a chair while pulling on and stepping into clothing to prevent tripping and falling.
Tremors make it difficult to carry out tasks that require fine motor skills or a steady hand like working with buttons, tying shoes, and drinking and eating without spilling. Note that all of our clothing is wash and wear so if spills occur, clothing is not ruined. Many of our garments can be pulled up or pulled on over the head which may be an easier dressing task to perform. Garments that have zippers can have large zipper pulls attached to make zipper manipulation easier. Just let us know if you need that alteration. Our shoes and slippers for men and women have either hook and loop closures, or they slip on which encourages independence in putting on footwear.

Lack of finger dexterity can be frustrating to the person trying to dress her or himself. Choose items from our Parkinson’s clothing collection that have large buttons or VELCRO® brand closures, or styles that can be pulled on requiring minimal finger strength.

A helpful tip that we encourage for individuals with Parkinson’s disease is to encourage gathering the clothes to be worn and putting the clothes on the bed next to them. This practice allows them to sit on the bed between putting on the various clothing items, which reduces the chance of a fall while dressing and allows the person to be as independent as possible.

Does Buck and Buck carry clothes to accommodate kyphosis (humpback) curvature of the spine? Yes, we do have a variety of full cut garments that will accommodate a kyphosis, often called humpback curvature of the spine.

For women who prefer a dress, often a garment without a waistline will fit best or you may need to purchase a size up depending upon the style. For a man, most of our shirts should work well.

You may also want to take a look at our clothing designs for those with limitations due to arthritis. These styles were created to make the process of dressing easier.

Paralysis of the legs may cause the individual to lose some independence. To preserve as much independence as possible for the individual with leg paralysis, we have designed clothing to meet that need. Choose from our designs of clothing that have long, bilateral side zippers which permit easy, independent dressing and toileting for the wheelchair bound individual. Any of our pants may be converted to the side-zip design. Just let us know your preference.

Another garment for the individual with paralysis of the legs is our back flap pants. The pants can be easily put on with the assistance of a caregiver and the back flap closes to give adequate coverage yet makes toileting very easy. We have also had many paraplegics choose this style because wheelchair to toilet transfers are easy and modesty can be maintained with little difficulty.

If the person with paralysis needs assisted dressing, our open back or rear closure designs are great. The garments look like regular, everyday wear, but the open back design makes dressing easy for the caregiver and less of a struggle for the wearer. Let us help you with your dressing needs!

Trying to get dressed and coping with hand tremors can make what would be an easy task difficult to manage. Just think how you would deal with fastening buttons, snaps and pulling up zippers if your hands were shaking. Shoes can also be a problem if there are laces to tie.

At Buck and Buck we have designed clothing to make dressing manageable for those who have to deal with hand tremors. Our clothing designs have large zipper pulls that can easily be added to any zipper. This adaptation makes pulling up a zipper easier. Buttons can be converted to hook and loop closures. The garment looks like it has buttons, but we sew hook and loop strips on the material behind the button so that closing the garment is easy for the person with hand tremors. We can do this with any of our button closures.

We also feature many styles that are "pull up" or "pull on" over the head. We can sew grab loops into the pants and pull on skirts if that will assist the person to dress independently. Just let us know what your need is. All of our men's and women's shoes and slippers are slip on styles or have hook and loop closures to make putting on footwear easy.
Independent dressing does not have to be compromised because you have hand tremors, whether caused by Parkinson’s disease or some other medical condition.

Let us help you out, we even give dressing tips on our website to help prevent falls while dressing. Take a look!

Dressing when limbs are painful is a difficult task at best, but with our adaptive line of clothes for women and for men, getting dressed does not have to be such a problem. Painful limb movement may be the result of a variety of things such as arthritis, shoulder injury, limb contractures, etc.

You will find that our adaptive clothing styles feature open back garments which are very easy to put on. No lifting or pulling on the arms to dress. A few of our open back clothing items are dresses, blouses, shirts, nightgowns, pajamas, sweaters, jackets and sweatsuits.

We also have side zip pants that open more than halfway down each side allowing the legs to be placed gently into the pants without pulling or pushing on painful lower limbs.

Both the individual with painful limb movements and the caregiver appreciate our adaptive clothing styles because they look great and are very easy to put on. Please browse through the extensive clothing solutions in our catalog for your dressing needs.