It may seem like a good idea, to have a chair where the seat automatically lifts you out; without having the struggle of doing it for yourself.
However, I need to be cautious of buying gadgets to help yourself in daily living, because if you are finding this activity difficult to manage; then you will also be having the same concerns when getting on & off the toilet, getting in & out of the shower / bathtub and getting in & out of bed.
If this is the case then you need to see a rehabilitation specialist who will help you manage these transfers safely. You need to talk to your family doctor who make the referral for you to see an Occupational or Physical Therapist.
Self-rising chairs are not necessary because they remove the ability of your leg muscles to do action of getting you up out of the chair. The task of transferring in and out of a chair is 'therapy', because your leg muscles will become stronger, as they get you up and out of the chair in preparation for using your legs for walking.
It may seem a tough task to complete, but trust me as an Occupational Therapist, you will be pleased that you keep pushing yourself to perform the activity; because it will becomes easier the more you practice and gain greater strength and balance in your leg muscles.
If you continue to struggle with this transfer, you must be assessed by a professional Occupational or Physical Therapist. They will advise on the correct method for getting up and out of your chair, plus assess whether your current chair is most suitable.
If you only want a lounge type chair and your chair is too low, then you certainly do not need an automatic seat lift. A high-backed chair higher chair is really all you need, otherwise you are removing a very useful exercise component out of your daily life; which will be needed other functional activities.
However, if you want a chair more working on a computer, then a comfortable ergonomic chair will be more suitable. Please make sure that the ergonomic chair is safe. If getting out of the chair is a concern, consider using one of my ergonomic chairs; as they all come with locking casters.
When I worked as a newly qualified Occupational Therapist in a hospital, one of the first activities we taught older patients, following an illness or surgery; was how to get out of the chair next to the bed. Following on from this activity was the toilet and bed transfer.
All of these are your fundamental functional activities of daily living. If you are not able to achieve any of these activities, then you will lose your ability to take care of your own personal functional performance for living independently.
So next time you look at any functional activity gadgets; remember what I write that productive movement is a therapeutic exercise for daily living. No gadget will replace the human body for use in functional activities of daily life. Learn to enjoy the movements yourself and then you will feel safe, independent and autonomous for as long as you are able to enjoy life; because everything in life always has a purpose.
If you need help or advice, ask your doctor to recommend community rehabilitation to visit you and resolve your functional mobility issues, being either an Occupational Therapist or a Physiotherapist. Both of these professions have overlapping areas of expertise that can help you in any functional mobility issue.
Please do not do not try to help yourself with gadgets, as there is always professional expertise available out there for you to use; which depending on your age is freely available.
Who then uses self-rising chairs you may ask? A good question and the answer is very few people, because they are only needed for specific medical conditions.
The first condition would be an individual, who had extensive damage in a hip or knee joint and then had the skeletal joint fixed in a rigid or straight position. It would make the transfer from a chair very difficult and often unsafe to manage. A self-rising chair would make it much easier to manage the task safely.
Also if you are badly affected by a condition such as rheumatoid arthritis, which affects both the upper and lower limb joints with pain, inflammation and weakness; a self-rising chair would help the individual reserve his/her strength, to perform other daily living activities that are needed in daily life.
If you are having difficulty getting in and out of a chair, then you should seek your doctor's advice as to whether you should be seen by an Occupational Therapist or Physiotherapist. This is not a task you should be helping yourself to manage. Rehabilitation is the expertise that you require by the above professionals and should not be treated by yourself, or by sales staff in mobility stores.
The author Gail McGonigal is a qualified Occupational Therapist, with a Master's in Health Promotion. Her found new knowledge in Health Promotion has guided her thinking from working in a sickness model of coping, into a health promotion perspective of healing for quality of life. Here Gail explains the root cause of customer's skeletal problems, using her own experience of how she erased pain and discomfort in her own spine through using a productive activity, namely cycling to heal her problem. Gail explains how correct ergonomic movements & sitting erased her discomforts, by constantly sitting on her pelvic bones, that straightened the postural scoliosis in her spine. Gail has learned how positioning of skeletal joints is important for relieving pain and providing optimum comfort in functional movements.