Does Your Senior Need a Lift Chair?
Most seniors want to grow old and older in the homes they have loved for the past many years or even decades. But bad knees, debilitation, and loss of muscle can sometimes make it difficult for seniors to live the dream of staying put.
What is a Lift Chair?
Think of a lift chair as an amped up recliner. Typically these chairs are a little wider than regular recliners and they run on electricity. That means you have to plug them into an outlet. The lift chair has a wide range of positions. It can sit upright, in case the sitter wants to use a laptop or conduct a serious conversation with someone across the room.
They also recline in comfortable positions for reading, relaxing, and watching television. And, as needed, they recline fully for the sitter to sleep in. They also gently tilt forward to make it easy for the sitter to get out of the chair. Then the sitter can regain a position in the chair, easily, and recline it backwards.
Who Needs a Lift Chair?
Here are some signs that your loved one would benefit from a lift chair:
- He has trouble getting out of regular chairs. When someone is debilitated by disease, hospitalization, or fragility, simply getting in and out of a chair can become a challenge. The lift chair literally leans over to scoop up the sitter. So it’s a great all-purpose chair for the elderly who have lost a lot of body strength.
- He has trouble getting in and out of bed. Some seniors discover that their beds are too high, too low, or too encumbered with rails to easily get in and out of. If your senior has the wrong bed, you may want to fall back on the lift chair, as a bed, until you can obtain a bed that is twenty to twenty-three inches from the floor to the top of the mattress.
- He has moderate to severe arthritis of the hips, knees, or shoulders. Arthritis can make it more difficult to stand up from a sitting position. The lift chair’s ability to gently tilt the sitter in the direction of the floor makes this movement easier.
- He has circulation problems or muscle weakness.
- His caregiver or senior care aide is having trouble getting him into a chair. Lift chairs are a big help to caregivers and home care professionals who need to transfer a patient from bed or bath to chair.
If your senior needs a lift chair, chances are good that he or she could also benefit from professional senior care. Senior care pros come to your parent’s house and perform a wide range of duties, from bathing and feeding to safely transferring the senior from bed to chair and back again. If you do not already have senior care, this might be a good time to learn more about it.
In conclusion, lift chairs are useful to a wide range of seniors. They adapt to a number of different needs, and facilitate the transfer of the patient into a chair if he or she needs help getting into a chair. They allow the user to easily modify the chair’s position so as to read, watch television, engage socially, or sleep.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Senior Care in Cornelius, NC, please call the professional staff at Caring at Heart today at (704) 379-7510. Serving Charlotte, Statesville, Ballantyne, Mooresville, Huntersville, Matthews, Concord, Gastonia, Pineville and Indian Trail
Sources
- Seven Ways to Get a Better Night’s Sleep - December 22, 2022
- What Services Are Offered by Elder Care Aides? - December 14, 2022
- Post-Hospital Care Helps Seniors Recover At Home - November 21, 2022