What is a Lift Chair?

There are several reasons why someone may need a lift chair. The most common being the inability to get out of a chair without assistance. Whether that's due to general weakness, arthritis, or another disorder, getting out of a chair (or even a bed) can be more difficult compared to someone who has the ability to get up by themselves. Other reasons that inhibit one's ability to stand could include, but are not limited to, recovering from certain invasive surgeries, such as hip replacement or knee surgery.

If you suffer from a disease or illness that hinders your ability to stand, or at the very least, requires you to have someone assist you in standing, a lift chair could be the product you need. Someone with circulation issues may also reap the benefits of a lift chair. Due to how they recline, your feet end up slightly above your heart making it easier for blood to circulate throughout the body.

The number of benefits a lift chair can provide isn't incredibly overwhelming, what is overwhelming, to say the least, is how impactful the benefits are to those who need a lift chair. As we stated earlier, one of the benefits these automatic recliners provide is the ability to improve circulation. As you recline in your chair, you may notice that your feet are raised slightly.

The blood from your feet is pushed back to your heart more easily with the help of gravity, allowing your heart to produce less effort while pumping your blood to the rest of your body. Another reason your feet will elevate slightly is to reduce swelling in your legs and feet. Those suffering from edema find this helpful because this position reduces the excess fluid build up in the legs and feet.

Other benefits you'll feel with lift chairs is the decreased pain caused by arthritis. This one is pretty simple and maybe a little obvious. If you have arthritis in your joints, also known as osteoarthritis, you'll know that standing up from a seated position can be rather painful without the proper assistance. Sure, you could rely on family, or a close friend to help you, but why not take back your independence with a lift chair? Lift chairs can do more than just recline into a position that is perhaps way too comfortable (as if you could have too much comfort.) They're called lift chairs for a reason, right? That's what they do.

Not only do lift chairs help you gently move to a standing position, but from that position you also have an easier time getting into a seated position.Use your remote that connects directly to the lifting mechanism (or your wireless remote if you want to be fancy) and press the recline button until you've reached your desired position. This is also a great way to remain independent, especially when no one is around to help you.

This last benefit is perhaps the most impactful and the reason why so many people are grateful that their loved ones have a lift chair. Lift chairs reduce the chance of injury. This fact is true regardless of your reason for owning one. Whether you have chronic knee pain or need some extra assistance getting into a standing position, it is safer to transition into standing than trying to exert all your energy to get up.

Lift chairs gently put your feet on the ground and move your knees from a 90 degree angle to almost entirely straight. This creates significantly less struggle for the user because the hard work has been done for them. All you have to do is simply support the rest of your weight and start walking.

A lift chair wouldn't be yours unless you had control over what it looked like and how it felt. Fortunately, we can give you that luxury and more. The first choice you'll have to make is how large (or small) you'd prefer your chair to be. Typically, you'll see small, medium, and large lift chairs, but there are more specific sizes. These sizes are petite-small, small-wide, medium-wide, small-medium, and tall-wide. There are measurements under the specifications tab on each product, so you know exactly how big or small your chair will be. Alternatively, you can come into one of our stores and try them out yourself!

Once you've chosen your desired size, we can talk about fabrics. The fabrics we offer come from Golden Technologies and Pride Mobility, but we'll still give you some pointers on choosing your perfect fit. Another thing to note is that not all fabrics will be available in all colors - keep your mind open to different possibilities. Think about what you'd prefer when it comes to texture - each fabric will have a different feel to them as well as different benefits.

Let's talk about Golden's fabrics and what they have to offer. Golden is partnered with Ultrafabrics who produces a line called Brisa®. These materials are available on all Golden lift chairs and offer a lifetime warranty on all Brisa® fabrics. You'll find plenty more benefits than just an assortment of colors to choose. Not only is Brisa a super breathable material, it is stain and scratch resistant while at the same time boasting resistance to temperature changes that may stiffen or crack other fabrics. You also may be happy to hear that these fabrics clean effortlessly with soap and water and can lift most stains with alcohol-based cleaning solutions.

Pride's fabrics offer a slightly more strict assortment for their lift chairs. While some lift chairs offered by Pride will only be available in a few, others will have an arsenal to choose from.

Features

Let's start with some of the most common optional features we can provide on our lift chairs: heat and massage. If you suffer from chronic back pain, or enjoy a good massage every once in a while, you may want to invest in the massage module that can be added to almost any chair in our fleet (there will be exceptions on certain chairs.) Adding the optional heat module to your chair is a way to ensure you're nice and cozy during the winter. This feature can also be helpful to those who are naturally cold.

Adjustable power head pillows and power lumbar that can be controlled at the touch of a button are common features for several lift chairs. Some lift chairs come with cup holders and even wireless charging capabilities. Those features, however, cannot be added to lift chairs that do not already have these built-in. If you're like us and hate cords, you may be interested in the wireless remote included with select lift chairs. Lastly, we'd like to mention the lithium-ion battery backup that can be added to certain chairs. This backup battery ensures that if your power goes out, you can operate your lift chair. While the lithium-ion battery is potentially a life saver, we don't recommend solely relying on this power source.