Lift Chairs and Safety in the Living Room

For most of those who are over the age of sixty five, there are many great things about life. This includes spending time with family, volunteering for charity locations, and overall getting to spend more time enjoying life and less time working. While there are many great things about growing older, seniors are at an increased risk for developing a number of diseases, many of which limit their mobility.

Frequently, these mobility hindering diseases and conditions can have a negative impact on a seniors independence, because in some cases they must rely heavily upon others to lend a hand. This can be seen as a family member helps them into and out of the car or out of their favorite sitting chair. Finding ways to reduce the need to rely on others is a constant struggle for some and many seniors use lift chairs in their home to improve their ability to stand up without assistance.

Lift chairs, which are also called lift recliners, were originally developed during the eighties and are intended to make it easier for a person to stand or sit. The chair itself is designed to look like a regular recliner and offers the same basic features you would expect from a recliner, such as a footrest and reclining backrest.

However, lift chairs differ from recliners in that they also allow for a senior to safely stand and sit, because the entire chair can be raised into the air. A lifting mechanism is placed into the base of the chair and this mechanism raises the entire device, occupant and all, slowly upwards. Once the chair has stopped raising, the chairs occupant is positioned in a manner that allows them to exit the chair on their feet. This allows the senior to come to a standing position, without having to rely on someone else to lend them a hand, greatly improving independence.

The modern lift recliner, will use an electric lifting system, which is also used to power the backrest and footrest. This means that instead of having to manually recline the chair with their bodyweight, the senior can instead simply push a button and the chair will automatically recline. The control system is usually a simple hand control, which is physically attached to the lift chair, although some chairs do have the buttons built into the armrest. In either case, the buttons are designed in a manner that allows even those with limited vision to use it. They are very simple, sometimes with only two buttons and the buttons themselves are large and spaced well apart from one another, so their location can be felt, even if it can’t be seen.

For the modern senior, there are a number of devices available to help make life easier, which in turn lets the senior focus on what is important, such as spending time with family. The lift chair is one of the more common devices used by seniors and the elderly, although it should be noted, people of all ages use these devices.