Lift Chairs

not yet! try this first.

Lift chairs - sometimes necessary but often purchased prematurely, these special pieces of furniture can further weaken patients.

I've been seeing home health care patients since 1994 and have seen numerous lift chairs weaken some, not all, of my patients.

How? Being able to stand from a sitting surface requires leg muscle power and strength. These muscles are some of the first to weaken as we age.

When looking at this task, we need to focus on power and strength. Power is your ability to generate force quickly where as strength reveals the amount of power you can generate period. We can get more detailed with strength definitions however, for the purpose of avoid lift chairs, we need to simply strength our body's!

Several other items need to be kept in mind when working on mastering the sit to stand task without having to purchase expensive lift chairs.

What to keep in mind

• Gravity

Gravity is always pulling us down. You can take advantage of the strength you do have by simply raising your chair, couch or bed up on 4X4 inch blocks.
• Make your own

Cut a 4X4 in about 8 inch lengths. Scoop out a 'resting' indentation for the chair or bed leg to sit in. Place the block longways in the same direction of the most force generated. i.e. if you are raising a bed, lay the block longways from left to right. This will decrease your chances of rolling the block when getting into bed. vs. longways from top to bottom which could easily roll when the force of getting into bed shifts the bed frame.
• Recliner Chairs

When raising your lift chair you may need to use long lengths of 4X4's or even cement blocks. Recliner chairs tend to be built on frames instead of legs. Putting your 4X4's under the frame changes your recliner into a lift chair!

It should now be easier to get out of your chair or bed. The higher the surface is that your trying to get out of, the less your legs have to work to LIFT you off that surface.

It is also true the the higher the surface is, the harder it could be to get onto it whether a bed, a chair or a couch. Keep this in mind.

Since we've fixed the immediate problem of getting up, now let's look at the longer term solution of how to get out of a chair (without lift chairs).

How to get out of a chair

• Scoot

Since the quad muscle do most of the lifting when getting out of a chair, it's important that you lean your body weight over your quads.

When sitting in a chair, your body weight is 12"-14" behind your quads! Pushing on your legs in this position will only push you further BACK into the chair

So - SCOOT forward. Either hike your hips forward one at a time till you are sitting on the edge of the bed or push your upper back into the back of the chair to get your butt scooting forward.

• Lean

This is critical... so much so that most of my patients have heard me say over and over again, "nose over toes." For some this can be a scary task for fear of falling forward and out of their chair but it is critical and crucial to the success of the task. Without leaning the upper body forward, the body weight remains behind the quads.
• Feet back

Now, slide your feet back to a comfortable spot towards the chair. This places your feet UNDER your legs. If you keep your feet out where they likely were, you are in the same position you were when sitting back in the chair. Those feet are what will support you, get them under the load they are about to lift.
• Nose over toes

With your nose over toes, now grasp the arms of the chair and push down while trying to lift your butt up towards the ceiling. This allows your body weight to come over your quad muscles, keeps your nose over toes and helps you accomplish the task!

If you don't have chair arms, you can put your arms on your thighs and push yourself up.

• One Arm, Two Arms

Once standing but while still holding onto the chair arms, place one hand on your walker (if needed) and then the next one on the walker.
• Stand Tall

Since your feet are close to the chair, couch or bed take advantage of the fact that your legs may be touching the chair still and your can steady yourself a bit before walking. Stand as tall as you can to stretch your legs, hips and back!

Remember, however, that standing close to your chair with your legs touching is cheating when doing your home exercise program!

• You made it!

Now that you know how to stand up correctly, turn this into an exercise to strengthen your sit to stand muscles. Set a goal to do 10-20 in a row! Beware, though, if you do, you may not have to purchase any lift chairs!

Sitting from Standing

Now that you can stand up, reverse this process to sit down gently and safely.

• Back up

Back up till both legs touch the chair.
• One Hand, Then Two

Reach one hand back to grab one chair arm, now reach the other hand back to the other chair arm.
• Nose over toes

Keeping your nose over your toes, use your arms to gently lower yourself down into the chair. Don't crash. Crashing makes you weak and can compression fractures in your spine.

We are developing home exercise programs designed to help you strengthen your body in order to accomplish this task. They will be part of our extension home exercise program library at our online fitness training site where you can get your free fitness analysis. Sing up for our occasional newsnotes and receive exclusive membership discounts.

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