Bidet Seats for Adults with Physical Limitations

Aging, physical disability, neurodegenerative conditions, neurologic injury, and surgical recovery are often accompanied by various bathroom-related challenges. These can include issues with bowel movements, incontinence, difficulty wiping, and the loss of privacy and autonomy in completing restroom tasks. Electric bidet seats offer a solution! Because electric bidet seats do all the work of getting you clean and dry after urination, bowel movements, or accidents, they’re an ideal resource for anyone with limited mobility, dexterity or muscle control.

The bidet seats we recommend at the end of this article come with features that are especially helpful for increasing restroom comfort, privacy and independence for senior citizens and those with any of the following: amputation, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS/Lou Gherig’s Disease), arthritis, Cerebral Palsy, Huntington’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Muscular Dystrophy (MD), Motor Neuron Diseases, Parkinson’s Disease, recovery from surgery, shoulder injury, Spina Bifida, spinal cord injury, and stroke.

Bidet Benefit #1: Overcoming Mobility, Dexterity & Vision Difficulties

Warm Air Dryers

Mobility or dexterity difficulties often make it hard to wipe effectively, and shifting or standing so a helper can assist with cleaning up is risky for anyone with balance issues. For these reasons, we recommend looking for a seat that comes with a warm air dryer, which virtually eliminates the need for toilet paper. As the name implies, warm air dryers direct a stream of air (often with adjustable temperature) towards the rectal and vaginal areas to dry you off after the wash cycle finishes. The biggest downside to using an air dryer instead of toilet paper is that it can take several minutes to get fully dry. While the independence and privacy this feature affords may be worth sacrificing a few minutes, you can always dab yourself with a little bit of toilet paper before running the dryer to shorten the overall dry time. 

Wireless Remote Controls

Many bidet seats can be operated by remote control, and we typically recommend these over models with controls that are attached to the seat if you have limited dexterity or vision. Purchasing a bidet seat with a large remote control and mounting the remote near the floor can also be helpful as this allows the bidet seat to be controlled with a foot. Because bidet seat remotes rely on infrared signals, the remote does need to be operated from within the bathroom, but mounting it near the door allows it to be operated by a helper while still providing privacy for the person using the bidet.

Bidet Compatible Risers

Bathroom safety is essential but not always easy to achieve if you have difficulty balancing, standing or turning. Fortunately, some risers and arms work very well with bidet seats, and grab bars are also worth considering depending on the distance between toilet and the bathroom walls. These safety measures not only decrease the distance one needs to move in order to use the restroom, but they also provide extra stability while transferring from a wheelchair or walker to the toilet and back again.

While there are many risers and rails on the market today, only a select few will work well with bidet seats. If you already have risers and rails in your bathroom, contact us with the make and model to see if they are compatible with bidet seats. If they are, great! If not, we’ve still got you covered! Click here to see our curated selection of bidet compatible bathroom safety products.

If you have more questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our expert in assisted care and bidet seats: [email protected]

Insurance

Some customers with medical needs are able to have their bidet seat purchase covered by insurance. While every insurance claim looks different, we find that the best way to have insurance cover a bidet seat purchase is to start by giving us a call. During this call, we’ll provide personalized feedback about which seats and products may be best for you and gather some general information that will enable us to process a payment from the insurance company. Next, using the bidet seat information we discuss, you’ll request a prescription from your doctor and submit it to your insurance company. If the insurance company approves the purchase, they will need to call us to finalize the transaction. Just keep in mind that talking to us at the start of this process enables you to choose the best seat for your needs, equips you with the information your physician needs to provide a prescription, and ensures that we have the proper information on file to process a payment from the insurance company when they reach out.

Bidet Benefit #2: Alleviating Constipation & Stimulating Bowel Movements

Constipation and/or difficulty moving the bowels often accompany aging, certain health conditions or medications, and the loss of physical sensation or mobility. The good news is that many electric bidet seats come with features specifically designed to make completing bowel movements easier and more comfortable.

Some bidet seats feature a special enema wash mode that directs a powerful stream of water into the rectum to soften stubborn stool and stimulate the bowels. While this is helpful if you experience frequent constipation, the forceful water stream can be uncomfortable for individuals with sensitive skin or hemorrhoids. The good news is that many seats come with a gentler option called pulse washing (also known as massage washing). This softer wash soothes tender areas yet still encourages bowel movements by quickly alternating the pressure of the water stream to create a relaxing, massage sensation.

If you’re looking for a happy medium between an enema wash and pulse washing, you can always run a rear wash cycle using the seat’s highest water pressure setting prior to attempting a bowel movement. Using warm water for an enema wash, pulse wash, or rear wash also increases the chances of successfully stimulating the bowels

Bidet Benefit #3: Managing Incontinence

Loss of muscle control can lead to accidental urination or bowel movements. While Depends help prepare for these unexpected incidents, cleaning up afterwards often presents a separate challenge. Bidet seats can help! Keep in mind that picking a seat with high water flow is key because a higher water flow typically means a faster and more efficient wash. You’ll also want to consider a seat that offers nozzle oscillation, which moves the nozzle back and forth during the wash cycle, or a wide spray option, as both of these features increase cleansing coverage.

Bidet Benefit #4: Enhancing Comfort

Hemorrhoids, fissures, skin sensitivity, and difficulty wiping can seriously impact bathroom comfort and personal hygiene. Fortunately, bidet seats are able to assist with all of these problems.

Bidet Seats with Gentle Wash Streams

Most electric bidet seats come with an aerated wash stream that infuses tiny air bubbles into the spray. This conserves water, relaxes tender areas and protects delicate skin. Not only does this make the wash more comfortable, it also facilitates thorough cleansing which is key in soothing painful bowel conditions and healing hemorrhoids. If you are particularly sensitive, you may want to consider a bidet seat with a special “soft wash” mode. Some “soft” modes simply lower the wash’s water pressure, whereas others achieve a gentler touch by reducing the wash stream’s aeration or flow rate.

Reducing Reliance on Scratchy Toilet Paper

As discussed earlier, warm air dryers are wonderful option for increasing privacy and independence in the bathroom. A secondary benefit is that they are much gentler on skin than toilet paper, so they won’t exacerbate hemorrhoids, fissures, and other painful conditions. Warm air dryers take several minutes to get the job done, but many find that having a discomfort-free bathroom experience from start to finish is worth the extra few minutes that they require.

Bidet Benefit # 5: Improving Personal Hygiene

Even the most thorough wiping leaves behind traces of waste on the skin, and physical limitations that make wiping difficult can further compromise your ability to get completely clean. This can lead to itching, exacerbate hemorrhoids, and increase the risk of a UTI. Because bidet washing fully rinses waste away, it’s a more effective and hygienic way to clean yourself after using the bathroom.

Choosing a Bidet Seat

With so many options to choose from, deciding which bidet seat is right for you can be daunting! Below, we highlight a few seats that are especially well suited to individuals with physical limitations. As always, we are more than happy to provide personalized feedback on which seat is best for your needs, so don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.

First Place Pick: Cascade 3000

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Why the Cascade 3000 is Our Top Pick

The Cascade 3000 provides a range of great features that leave you exceptionally clean, all while enhancing bathroom comfort and convenience. It offers two remote options, one of which is a large remote with raised, easy to navigate buttons that are especially helpful for anyone with vision impairments, dexterity limitations, or for users who plan to operate the remote with their feet. The one button wash and dry feature also simplifies the process of getting clean and is a great fit for those looking to minimize the amount of button-pressing required to achieve a thorough cleansing and drying. It’s worth noting, however, that the Cascade 3000 does not offer an enema wash, whereas the Bio Bidet BB-1000 and Bio Bidet BB-2000 (our second and third place seats) do. In addition, the Cascade 3000 comes with a water flow rate of 0.185 gallons per minute, which is a little more than half the water flow rate of the BB-1000. This means that it may take a bit longer to get clean using the Cascade 3000 than the BB-1000.

Design Features

The Cascade 3000’s sleek design makes it one of the most versatile bidet seats on the market. It is designed to fit on most one and two-piece toilets, including many with a difficult-to-fit French curve design, and it’s available in both round and elongated seat sizes. While most most bidets come with lids that cannot safely support the weight of an adult, the Cascade 3000 comes with a sittable lid that can support up to 330 lbs. This is an especially great feature to have for anyone who’s accustomed to sitting on the toilet lid for activities like getting dressed, performing personal hygiene tasks, or helping someone bathe.

Wash & Dry Features

The Cascade 3000 features an instant water heater that generates unlimited warm wash water, an oscillating wash option that soothes tender areas and helps stimulate the bowels, and a built in warm air dryer that gets you dry without needing to wipe with toilet paper. For added convenience and ease of use, the Cascade 3000 comes with an auto wash mode that initiates a standard wash and dry cycle at the touch of a button, which is perfect for quick cleansing or for users who feel overwhelmed navigating the remote. It’s worth noting that the Cascade 3000 offers the longest auto wash/dry of any seat on the market, making it the best choice for thorough cleansing and drying at the touch of a button. The built-in LED nightlight illuminates the toilet bowl to make nighttime restroom trips safer and easier, and the automatic deodorizer gets rid of offensive bathroom odors.

Remote Control

The Cascade 3000 comes with two remote options, so users can choose what suits their needs best. The large remote features a simple, easy-to-navigate layout with raised buttons that are helpful for visually impaired users, those who have difficulty with fine motor tasks, or anyone planning to use their feet to operate the remote. A small remote with flat buttons and a display screen is also available.

Second Place Pick: Bio Bidet BB-1000

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Why the Bio Bidet BB-1000 is our Second Place Pick

The budget friendly BB-1000 features the strongest water flow rate of all the seats on this list, which is especially helpful in getting clean after an accident, as well as a powerful enema wash option (plus standard front and rear washing). The BB-1000 also features a large, easy-to-operate remote and a warm air dryer, both of which make it a wonderful option for anyone with limited mobility.

The main downside to the BB-1000 is that it doesn’t offer quite as many features as our other recommended seats. For example, the BB-1000 comes with a tank water heater that provides limited warm water (versus unlimited warm water), has plastic nozzles (versus higher quality stainless steel nozzles), and doesn’t feature a sittable lid, nightlight, or one-button wash and dry. 

Wash & Dry Features

The BB-1000 is equipped with Bio Bidet’s patented enema wash with Vortex Technology that sprays a strong stream of water into the rectum to loosen stubborn stool and stimulate bowel movements. While this makes it a natural choice for individuals who experience frequent constipation, it may be too intense for more sensitive customers. The good news is that the BB-1000’s soothing pulse wash creates a gentle massaging sensation that helps stimulate bowel movements while relaxing tender tissue.

As mentioned above, warm air drying is an extremely valuable function to have on a bidet seat, especially if you find it difficult to wipe, and the BB-1000 features a warm air dryer with adjustable settings that substantially reduces, or even eliminates, the need for wiping with toilet paper.

Remote Control

The BB-1000’s large, panel style remote with generous buttons and intuitive layout makes it a great option if you have dexterity difficulties or plan to operate the remote with your feet, and it can be mounted wherever is easiest for you to reach.

Third Place Pick: Bio Bidet BB-2000

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Why the Bio Bidet BB-2000 is Our Third Place Pick

The Bio Bidet BB-2000 is one of our top-selling seats and provides a thorough cleansing experience while enhancing bathroom independence. It offers all of the same features as the BB-1000 plus some that the BB-1000 doesn’t have. These extras include a child mode, unlimited warm water, autowashing (one button wash & dry), and an LED nightlight for safer nighttime navigation.

Like the BB-1000, it comes with enema and pulse wash options that help stimulate bowel movements and combat constipation. One of the main downsides to the BB-2000 is that its remote and remote buttons are smaller than those of the Cascade 3000 and BB-1000. While this may not be a dealbreaker for everyone, it does make it more difficult to operate the remote with feet, and those with vision or dexterity difficulties may find it harder to use.

Wash & Dry Features

While many bidet seats on the market only provide limited warm wash water the Bio Bidet BB-2000 has an advanced, hybrid water heater that generates unlimited, consistent warm water. With a water flow rate of 0.32 gallons per minute, the BB-2000 offers a higher water flow than the standard 0.1-0.18 gallons per minute found on most bidet seats, making it easy to get clean after an accident.

In addition, the BB-2000 offers a heated seat that can be configured according to personal preference, plus a deodorizer that keeps noxious odors to a minimum. The BB-2000 also encourages healthy bowel movements via its gentle pulse (massage) wash and oscillating wash options, and its powerful enema wash feature is designed to relieve constipation. This high performing seat also allows users to save their favorite settings for easy, personalized operation at the touch of a button. Once the wash is competed, follow it up with a heated dry from the seat’s warm air dryer, or simply dab dry with a sheet or two of toilet paper.

Remote Control

The BB-2000 comes with an intuitive wireless remote that can be placed inside of a wall mount, or slid out of the mount to be hand held for convenience. This remote is designed with intuitive icon buttons and a large screen display for choosing your desired options. Though the remote only comes in one size, it is available in two color choices: white or black. It’s smaller than the remotes of the BB-1000 and Cascade 3000, so it may not be as easy to use for those with significant dexterity limitations.

Fourth Place Pick: TOTO S550e

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Why the TOTO S550e is our Fourth Place Pick:

Like the Cascade 3000, the TOTO S550e Washlet is a high-end seat packed with numerous features that provide maximum comfort and convenience in the bathroom. It comes with the most washes of any seat on this list, premisting and nozzle sterilization for enhanced unit hygiene, as well as user presets and an auto open/close lid for improved convenience.

While the TOTO S550e is truly one of the most advanced seats money can buy, there are a few reasons we’ve ranked it in fourth place. First, it’s one of the most expensive seats on the market, so while you’re certainly getting a long-lasting and high-quality product, it’s not budget friendly. Second, it’s not the best option if you deal with frequent constipation since it doesn’t come with an enema wash and features a lower water flow rate. And lastly, the ultra-slim remote design may be a challenge for those with mobility and dexterity limitations to use, especially if you need to use your feet to operate it.

Wash & Dry Features

The S550e comes with front, rear, wide, and soft wash modes, plus pulsating and oscillating spray options. The wide wash’s broad coverage is especially helpful in getting clean after an accident, and the soft wash mode is great if you have tender, sensitive skin. The S550e is also the only seat on this list to offer user presets, which allows up to two user to program their favorite wash settings into the remote. Do keep in mind that user presets only pertain to the wash cycle; you’ll need to start and adjust the dry cycle separately. This is a bit different from auto washing, which isn’t as personalized (it either utilizes the seat’s last used settings or factory presets) but does initiate a full wash and dry cycle with a single button press.

Though the S550e’s single nozzle is crafted from plastic, which is less desirable than the stainless steel nozzles on the Cascade 3000 or BB-2000, the seat does come with a sterilization system that sanitizes the nozzles and bowl using electrolyzed water (Ewater+). Lastly, while no warm air dryer is “fast”, the S550e’s dryer is one of the more efficient ones out there.

Additional Convenience Features

 The S550e offers an automatic open/close lid that uses a sensor to open and close whenever someone walks towards or away from the toilet. You can also raise and lower the lid via a button on the remote, or just open and close it manually. The automatic options are nice to have if you would benefit from a hands free bathroom experience or if you enjoy keeping up with the latest technology, but do be aware that customers with small bathrooms sometimes report that the lid opens and closes randomly (this is due to the way the sensor picks up movement in a small space). Additionally, before each use, the S550e automatically sprays the inside of the toilet bowl with a thin film of water to prevent residue from sticking. This helps keep the toilet little cleaner and cuts down on the time you spend scrubbing it.

Remote Control

The TOTO S550e comes with a slim remote in brushed silver with flat, illustrated buttons. While incredibly elegant, this remote probably poses the most challenges for individuals with limited dexterity or who plan to operate it with their feet. 

Looking for integrated bidet toilets, not seats? Check out our ADA Compliant Integrated Units.