Is it time to get Dad a lift chair?
Lift chairs, or “Power Lift Recliner Chairs,” are sold in furniture stores around the world with good intentions of helping those who have difficulty standing up by themselves. Often, they boast additional features like heat, massage, wipe-clean leather and stain-resistant fabrics. Many older adults may think a lift chair is in their best interest to help stand up without straining themselves or having the fear of falling. These recliners are often firmer and don’t have as much depth, making a more stable and sturdier surface from the individual to push up using their arms on the armrests. So is it time to get a lift chair for your loved one?
Dr. Andrea Lyon, PT, DPT of Lyon Physical Therapy in Marinette and Menominee believes lift chairs expedite a downward spiral of frailness. There are exceptions… is the lift chair being rented or borrowed after a surgery, such as a total hip replacement or total shoulder replacement to ease the stress on the joint? Does your doctor approve of it? Does the person have a chronic illness that they are no longer seeking treatment for, and are in hospice or palliative care? If so, these are appropriate examples of when a lift chair may be necessary. However, in most occasions, an individual may be relying on a lift chair to perform the basic task of going from sitting to standing when their muscles should be performing this activity.
The result of using a lift chair when a person doesn’t need it is the same as a person using an ankle brace when they don’t have an ankle sprain. In the case of the ankle, the muscles supporting the ankle get weaker because they don’t have to work and support the ankle, the brace does that for them. In the case of the lift chair, the person’s major muscles of the legs such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteals, calves, as well as the abdominals begin to atrophy, or waste away. This makes the person even more dependent on the lift chair, and so the spiral of reliance on the chair begins. What comes with this is more weakness, poorer balance, and more “time in the chair.”
Dr. Andrea often asks her patients if they’re confident in their daily tasks. All healthy humans stand up hundreds of times per day. Vehicles, a recliners, or a toilet seats, this is a basic human function that is vital that we must protect and preserve. Instead of a lift chair, consider pursuing physical therapy. A good physical therapist will meet you right where you are, assess your personal health, strength, and motion, and make sure that the treatment isn’t moving too fast or too slow to help you get stronger and improve independence. Leg weakness is a significant contributor to falls, so it’s important that we take the time to get in some daily exercise to keep safe in our homes.
Consider Lyon Physical Therapy to come into the home and help you or your loved one on the journey to avoiding a lift chair. Everybody, even folks in their 70s, 80’s and 90’s are capable of strengthening, it just takes a patient and willing person to do it alongside them, take their concerns seriously, and lots of encouragement.
