Reachers, grabbers & hip kits
Get the 7-piece hip kit below unless you already own some of the pieces — despite the name, it's the cheapest way to cover the reacher, sock aid, shoehorn, and dressing stick you'll actually use in week 1. Already have some? Buy only what's missing — the standalone reacher is worth paying for on its own because it's built not to buckle the way flimsy folding grabbers do.
Checked four reacher and hip-kit options against Amazon listings and Medicare's own coverage data — how we choose →
4 picks we checked
Blue Jay 32" Reacher Grabber Tool for Seniors, 2 Pack - Sturdy Non-Folding Pick Up Stick with Magnetic Tip
$29.95 Amazon price, checked Oct 25, 2026
A rigid, non-folding reacher — the direct fix for a grabber that is too flimsy to carry any weight.
Best for: replacing a flimsy folding grabber — a rigid, non-folding shaft that won’t buckle under weight.
A rigid, non-folding shaft with a magnetic tip, so the jaw is less likely to buckle under weight than a folding grabber. Two in the pack means one upstairs and one down.
Flaw: Doesn't fold — it takes more storage space than the flimsier grabbers it's built to outlast.
See the Blue Jay 32" Reacher (2-Pack) on Amazon →
Medline Premium Hip Kit, Mobility Aids for Hip Surgery Recovery, 7-Pieces, 26" Grabber Reacher, Shoehorn, Sock-Aid, Dressing Stick, Shoelaces, Bath Sponge
$39.99 Amazon price, checked Oct 25, 2026
Seven reach and dressing pieces in one box, including the reacher, sock aid, and shoehorn. Today the kit is $39.99 for seven pieces vs. $59.91 for a reacher, sock aid, and shoehorn bought separately.
Best for: starting from zero — every reach/dressing piece you’re likely to need, in one bundle.
Named and marketed for hip replacement, but four of its seven pieces (reacher, sock aid, shoehorn, dressing stick) are the exact items on the knee-replacement checklist's BEFORE SURGERY / WEEK 1 lines -- one box instead of buying a reacher, a sock aid, and a shoehorn separately.
Flaw: Marketed and photographed for hip surgery, not knee — but 4 of its 7 pieces are exactly what a knee recovery needs too.
See the Medline Premium Hip Kit on Amazon →
RMS Deluxe Sock Aid - Socks Helper with Foam Handles for Regular Socks
$9.97 Amazon price, checked Oct 25, 2026
Foam-padded pull handles, for anyone who only needs the one piece a kit would otherwise duplicate.
Best for: filling the one gap if you already have a reacher and a shoehorn.
For anyone who already has a reacher and a shoehorn (or received them from the hospital) and just needs the one piece that a kit would otherwise duplicate. Foam-padded pull handles -- the one specific gripe about sock aids in those posts was a bare cord cutting into fingers.
Flaw: Built for regular socks, per the listing's own title — not necessarily compression stockings.
See the RMS Deluxe Sock Aid on Amazon →
RMS 2 Pack Extra Long Handled Shoe Horn with Curved Handle (24 inches)
$19.99 Amazon price, checked Oct 25, 2026
A curved handle that hooks over a shoe collar without needing a strong grip — the one piece a kit would otherwise duplicate.
Best for: filling the one gap if you already have a reacher and a sock aid.
Same reasoning as the standalone sock aid above -- buy this alone if a kit would just duplicate gear already on hand. The curved handle hooks over a shoe collar without needing a strong grip, which matters in week 1 when hand strength isn't the issue but bending is.
Flaw: Only solves the shoe step of dressing — pair it with a reacher and sock aid for the rest.
See the RMS Long-Handled Shoehorn (2-Pack) on Amazon →Named for hips, needed for knees too — for a shorter window
Every hip kit sold on Amazon is named and marketed for hip replacement. A knee recovery still needs most of the same items, such as the reacher, sock aid and shoehorn.
The reason is the same for both joints. A stiff, swollen joint cannot bend far enough to reach your own feet. Hip kits are sold for hips because hip precautions make the full kit closer to essential for months. A knee needs most of it for a shorter window.
Source: Amazon product listings and this site's knee-replacement checklist
Every "hip kit" sold on Amazon is named, photographed, and marketed for hip replacement. If you're recovering from a knee replacement, that's not a mismatch to work around — you need most of the same items, for a narrower reason and usually a shorter window.
A hip replacement's posterior-approach precautions (don't bend past 90°, don't cross your legs) can make a full kit close to mandatory for months. A knee replacement doesn't carry those precautions — you can't reach your own socks in week 1 simply because the knee is too swollen and stiff to bend that far. Our own knee-replacement checklist puts the reacher, sock aid, and shoehorn on the BEFORE SURGERY list and the dressing stick on WEEK 1 — none of the four is flagged for weeks 2–6, since by then most people have enough bend and enough swelling reduction to manage without them.
Buy quality where it matters. Flimsy folding grabbers can be too weak to carry any weight. That is why the standalone pick above is a non-folding design.
What's actually in a hip kit
Kit contents vary by seller, so don't assume every "hip kit" listing matches this one. Here's what's verified in the Medline Premium Hip Kit, Mobility Aids for Hip Surgery Recovery, 7-Pieces, 26" Grabber Reacher, Shoehorn, Sock-Aid, Dressing Stick, Shoelaces, Bath Sponge — the bundle pick above — straight from the live Amazon listing:
| Piece | Also sold standalone above? |
|---|---|
| 26" grabber reacher | Yes — see the reacher/grabber pick above |
| shoehorn | Yes — see the shoehorn pick above |
| sock-aid | Yes — see the sock aid pick above |
| dressing stick | No — kit-only in this lineup |
| elastic shoelaces | No — kit-only in this lineup |
| long-handled bath sponge | No — kit-only in this lineup |
Elastic shoelaces and the bath sponge aren't sold as standalone picks here — if you already own a reacher, sock aid, and shoehorn, those two pieces are the actual marginal value of buying the kit instead of skipping it.
Medicare coverage: none of this is billed as DME
Reachers, grabbers, sock aids, shoehorns, and dressing sticks do not appear anywhere in Medicare's DME benefit -- covered or excluded.
The Medicare fee schedule tracks a defined set of DME categories relevant to surgery recovery: canes, crutches, walkers and accessories, commodes, bath/toilet safety items, hospital beds and rails, patient lift slings, seat lift mechanisms, manual wheelchairs, and wheelchair accessories. There is no code in that set, or anywhere in the DMEPOS fee schedule, for a reacher, sock aid, shoehorn, or dressing stick. That's a different situation from bath-safety items like shower chairs (HCPCS E0240), which do have a code but show zero billed claims because they're statutorily excluded -- these items were never assigned a billing code to be excluded from in the first place. Buy them retail; there's no prescription path, no supplier requirement, and no coinsurance math to run.
Source: Medicare's equipment fee schedule (CMS DMEPOS, July 2026, DME26-C) + CMS HCPCS Level II quarterly file
Recall history
Federal recall databases have no record of a CPSC or FDA recall for a reacher, grabber, sock aid, shoehorn, or dressing stick -- in either direction.
That's not the same claim as 'these have been checked and found safe.' The recall searches run so far used terms like walker, rollator, shower chair, lift chair, commode, patient lift, and several bed-rail phrasings -- and none of those terms covers this product category. Zero recalls here means never searched, not searched and clean. These are mechanically simple items (a hook on a pole, a fabric loop with handles) without the entrapment, tip-over, or motor-failure hazard classes that drive most CPSC durable-goods recalls -- but that's a design-based reason to expect a clean record, not a citation for one.
Source: CPSC and FDA recall records — CPSC SaferProducts.gov + openFDA Device Recall/Enforcement (9 search terms, none matching this category)
When to borrow instead of buying
These items are cheap enough that borrowing rarely pays off the way it does for a knee scooter or hospital bed — there isn't a rental market for a sock aid. The one real "don't buy it twice" case: some hospitals and surgery centers send patients home with a starter hip/knee kit already in the discharge bag. Check what you're handed before you order — see what the hospital gives you for what's typically included at discharge. If you're recovering from a hip replacement and need the 90° bending-precaution specifics, that guidance will live on the hip-replacement guide — coming soon.
Go deeper
We earn a commission if you buy through the links above (Amazon Associates). It doesn't change the price you pay, and it doesn't change which products we picked — see our methodology.
Sources
- CMS HCPCS Level II quarterly file, July 2026 release + DMEPOS Fee Schedule (DME26-C) — basis for the "no HCPCS code exists" claim above
- CPSC SaferProducts.gov + openFDA Device Recall/Enforcement — 191 records pulled via 9 search terms, none covering this category
- Amazon product listings — We check each Amazon price and whether it is in stock every night. A price only shows if it was checked in the last 24 hours.