comfy chair recommendations?

pookabera

Hello everyone! Not sure if this question is overly specific, but wanted to see if anyone had thoughts to share! A goal that my Mom and I have is to get a new armchair for my Dad (83, diagnosed with general dementia) to sit in in the living room.

Before he fell, he was sitting and sleeping in a big, deep, cushy La-Z-Boy style recliner that was eventually difficult for him to get out of. While he was in the hospital following hip surgery, they had him getting out of bed and sitting up in the recliner in his room. And when he was in subacute rehab they would get him into his wheelchair and have sitting for a couple of hours semi-regularly.

We know that it's important for folks who have mobility issues to spend time sitting up regularly and when he's agreeable, he'll get into his wheelchair and come into the kitchen for meals. However, the wheelchair isn't comfortable for him to sit in for more than maybe an hour at a time and at that point he starts to get agitated (which we know is usually downhill from there).

So! My question is: Does anyone have recommendations for comfortable armchairs/recliners that are comfortable and appropriate for an elderly loved one? Ideally it would be easier for him to get out of.

Not sure if this would be helpful, but he's 6'3" (we had to request a bed extender for his bed we had delivered to the house).

dancsfo

I don't have direct experience, but have you looked at electric chair lifts? Some of them are just a lift attachment to put on a chair and others are designed into a chair with lifts at the bottom.

https://www.forbes.com/health/healthy-aging/best-lift-chairs/

Jo C.

Choosing a chair really is a bit time consuming. A particular chair or recliner does not fit all; one must measure and there are a host of things to take into consideration. I have included a link that shows the in's and out's re chairs. If you do get one, I strongly recommend getting a recliner that is also an electric lift chair; very helpful when getting to a standing position is an issue, but you will probably have to assist with the controls.

We found that over sized plush armrests are counterproductive and a hindrance for use. Best to have a narrower more solid upholstered set of armrests that go all the way to the end of the chair seat. If the arms are too short, the person cannot use them to push off to assist standing. We also found we needed to take other things under consideration:

Plushy overfilled chairs compact flatter over time and that changes comfort and capabilities. If one has a very plushy headrest, that can sometimes be very uncomfortable for bad body mechanics as the head is often pushed forward and for some can cause neck/head pain.

We found that with one chair, whenever one put the footrest up, the chair back automatically reclined. That was not a good dynamic as my LO often wanted feet up but also wanted to sit upright to be able to visit or watch TV. That may not be an issue for you.

Danger: The other thing we found was that some footrests in non-lift chairs were easy to go up; but very difficult to try and get it back down again; this was was a huge problem as it was very difficult taking a lot of strength and our LO could not manage that. The danger in such a situation is that the person using the chair will not have the strength to put the footrest down and instead, try to move and stand themselves up across the upright footrest leading to falls or other injuries.

With electric recliner chairs or electric lift/recliner chairs, if a LO can operate the mechanism control; that is great, but sometimes we have to operate it for them if confusion is present. 

With a lift capability, some chairs do this nicely but other chairs seem to put a person in an uncomfortable feeling like they are going to fall situation. Fit and capability is again very important and lift mechanisms are important; that is explained in the following link:

How to Choose a Lift Chair | Med Mart  

Another question comes up whether or not Medicare will pay for a recliner/lift chair; here is a link re that topic:

https://www.humana.com/medicare/medicare-resources/does-medicare-pay-for-lift-chair

Best of luck in our search; taking the time to measure and assessing the various points of need will be very helpful in making your choice.

J.

harshedbuzz

I would look into getting a lift chair prescribed and professionally fitted for him.

HB