Riser and recliner chair

Many people of all ages and sizes can find sitting down and getting up out of a chair difficult, physically exertive and sometimes even painful.

Despite the fact that most people sit down and stand up many times during the course of a typical day, this activity uses lots of muscles and joints and it can prove challenging to a whole range of people.

For those who have a larger or heavier body, sitting down and standing up can be particularly troublesome and can sometimes negatively impact on life, especially if the situation leads to a person feeling tied down to a chair.

Help sitting and standing – the riser recliner chair

The solution to this problem is an electrically powered riser recliner chair. These chairs take the effort out of lowering oneself into a chair or lifting oneself out of one and they have a clever mechanism managed by a remote control unit.

Bariatric riser recliner chairs display no obvious or visible difference to standard chairs of this type. The only distinction between the two is increased frame and support strength, more powerful motors (often three or more) and a wider and sometimes deeper seat area. The latter being necessary for the comfort of the larger individual.

Bariatric riser recliner chair are available for people with weights up to around 500 pounds (35 stone). People who are heavier may need to buy a customised or modified chair.

How riser recliner chairs work

The riser recliner chair (also known as a lift and tilt chair or a "rise recline" chair) does exactly what its name suggests.

When seated in the chair and wishing to stand up the remote control can be used to activate the chair which causes the seat to rise slowly. Once the seat nears the top of its path both the seat and backrest start to slowly tilt forward, gently easing the seated person out of the chair and into a near standing position. At this point the previously seated person will be in a “near” upright position with their legs almost straightened and the angle between their back and upper legs almost in a straight line.

The final action of standing up is achieved by allowing the momentum of the body to continue forwards and upwards. At this point the individual will be in an upright standing position.

The overall action of the chair is one of gently easing and then pushing the seated person into a normal standing position. It is done with a minimum of effort on the part of the person sat in the chair and the process can be slowed down, halted or reversed at any time by using the remote control.

The action of sitting down into the chair simply reverses the process outlined above with the person leaning back and into the chair when it is at it maximum lift and tilt position. The remote control can then be used to lower and recline the chair until a comfortable seated position is achieved.

Many of these riser recliner chairs have preset or pre-programmable settings that allow the speed and finishing position of the chair's movement to be controlled automatically for each use.

Some of these chair’s backrests will also recline to a near horizontal angle allowing a very relaxed posture to be attained. An upper leg support section will also be present on some models and this automatically extends forwards when the chair is in a fully reclined position.

Appearance

A riser recliner chair does have a slightly different appearance to a regular chair, mainly because its design has to conceal the motors and mechanics of its operation. The seat level of these chairs can also be slightly higher than a typical living room chair and the backrest may be more vertical and higher for better support.

Like most chairs, lift and tilt chairs come in a selection of fabrics and patterns and this means that they never look out of place in any home.

More information

Riser recliner chairs are heavier than normal sitting room chairs and the bariatric models are heavier still. For this reason most are fitted with casters (small wheels) to aid moving them around.

Rise and recline chairs are powered by electricity, so they need access to a plug or socket point. They cannot be operated manually.

The cushioning of baraitric chairs often comes with options that take account of pressure care requirements. Many of these chairs now offer the choice of standard foam or visco elastic memory foam fillings.

You need to be aware of your actual weight before you buy a riser recliner chair. This way you can be sure that the chair that you are considering is suitable for your size and weight.

Information about healthy body and back supporting chairs

The links below will take you to a number of pages offering information about different chair types ranging from bathroom seats to ergonomic office chairs.