I have been working as a community care worker for close to ten years now and this experience has given me the opportunity to experience the daily issues that disabled and elderly individuals must face in their own homes. One obvious issue is that of mobility in and around the home. Many people are aware of how challenging it can be to get around the neighbourhood but dont seem to appreciate the challenges involved in getting around one's own home.

Many people are not at the point where they need the assistance of an electric or motorized wheelchair to get around their own apartment but they do need the assistance of various mobility aids to live comfortably at home. For example, someone might need the help of a mobility walker to help them get from room to room, or even just the assistance of a properly outfitted walking stick to move around without difficulty. I have had a number of clients who are not at the point of needing either a motorized wheelchair or mobility scooter but do need the assistance of a walker to move around and to get out and about from their home and into the community. Someone who doesn't need to be constantly seated but who does need to be able to rest after traveling for a short distance benefits from the walker's ability to double as asitting surface while outside doing their daily business.

Something that I remember one of my older clients having in his home was a motorized lift chair. This was quite an impressive mobility aid. The idea behind the lift chair is that it offers all of the comfort of your typical recliner but at the same time it makes it easier for those with restricted mobility to sit in and stand up from the chair. Standard electric lift chairs allow the user to recline the backrest and the footrest of the chair but they go further than that. The lift chair also has a vertical lift control that the user can use to raise the chair up at an angle. By doing this, the occupant is slowly and steadily raised up in the chair to a near standing position allowing him or her to easily leave the chair. This vertical raising motion makes sure that the occupant is able to safely remain in the chair until it has finished moving. When it is time to once agian sit in the chair, the controls can be used to slowly and steadily lower the chair into a comfortable sitting position. It is important that the chair offers the user slow and steady movement so that a feeling of security is maintained for the user. This kind of mobility aid has also been described as a handicapped lift chair, but i am not completely comfortable with that more pajorative choice of name for it.

For the sake of the user's comfort, it is important that the lift chair is a suitable fit for the intended occupant. It is possible now to purchase, without much difficulty, a lift chair that matches the shape and size (height and weight) of the intended user. Failure to match the chair to the user can comprimise the user's safety. Speaking of safety, there are afew safety features built into most standard lift chairs today; Most lift chairs have a constant pressure switch built into their remote contol handset. This makes sure that the control only activates when intended: if the handheld control should be dropped or similarly released, the up or down motion will stop, ensuring the occupant's safety so that they are not unwillingly tipped out of or lowered into the chair against their will. Another safety feature is the battery backup: if, for whatever reason, there should be a lack of power to the chair - such as a power failuer in the immediate vicinity - then the battery backup can kick in, allowing the chair's occupant to still operate the chair and not be stuck there for any prolonged period of time. From what I can recall, the most common type of battery used for a backup in these chairs is the nine-volt. Of course, just like with fire alarms, it is important to remember to change the battery once a year even if it does not get used.

In general there are three different categories of lift chairs. These three categories are used to describe how far back a lift chair can recline. The first category of lift chair is known as the two position lift chair. This type of lift chair is capable of reclining back about 45 degrees. While it is not preferable for sleeping in, this type of chair is conducive to watching television in or for reading a book. The second type of chair is known as the three position lift chair and is perhaps the most common on the market. The backrest reclines nearly horizontally, the result being that it is a chair very well suited to reading, watching some television or even sleeping. The third type of chair which also boasts a commonly available design is called an infinite position lift chair. This model of chair reclines as far if not slightly farther than a 3 position lift chair, however the footrest is capable of moving independently. In other types of lift chairs, the footrest moves in conjunction with the backrest, but infinite position lift chairs allow these two components to be adjusted separately. This makes thelift chair much more customizable for the user. Along the lines of customization, I also believe that it is possible to order a lift chair in a variety of colors and patterns from various manufacturers as well as an assortment of various replacement lift chair parts if the need for such replacements should arise.

I hope that this helps to shed some light on the facts behind the common home lift chair and what to watch out for when in the market for such a piece of furnature.

Just in case you want to read what has come before in this series of hubs, feel free to visit my earlier Hub which was an introduction to my look at the presence and use of personal mobility aids within the home and community setting.