Lift Chairs, or lift recliners, are a type of home medical equipment often used by seniors. These devices are designed to help the user stand and sit easily and more comfortably.
At its most basic, a lift chair provides a place to sit with a lifting system that raises the seated user to an upright position. Most offer the functionality most people expect from a standard recliner, offering a reclining backrest and an extendable footrest.
The design of a lift chair is often very similar to a recliner as well, with most closely modeling their chair off the standard recliner style. However, lift chair manufacturers also offer a wide variety of fabrics and a number of lift chair designs to choose from, much like you would expect at a traditional furniture manufacturer.
Lift Chair Positions
Lift Chair Manufacturers and distributors, usually describe a lift chair as being two-position, three-position, or infinite-position. This is an industry term used to describe how far back the backrest of the lift chair reclines, as well as how the footrest is operated.
When using an infinite position lift chair, which is usually the top of the line model offered by the manufacturer, the backrest can be fully reclined and the footrest can be controlled separately from the backrest. As a result, reclining the backrest does not automatically extend the footrest. Bariatric lift chairs, which are heavy duty dual motor lift chairs, are also often infinite position.
The three-position lift chair also fully recline, however the footrest is not controlled separately. This means that when the backrest goes down, the footrest will automatically extend.
A two-position lift chair, which is occasionally said to offer a TV-Recline, does not extend as far back as the other two types of lift chairs, so is usually found on the less expensive lift chair models. The lift chair will not offer as nice of a sleeping position, because it does not recline all the way.
it is, however, important to keep in mind that even a two or three position lift chair is not limited to only a couple of positions, but they are controlled electronically and the lift chair backrest can be stopped at any point during recline.
Selecting the Right Lift Chair Manufacturer
It is a good idea to spend sometime researching the available types of lift chairs, including checking out independent lift chair reviews. Often the best deal can be found by contacting an online dealer directly, as lift chair manufacturers like Golden Technology and Pride Mobility will put a limit on how low of a price a reseller can advertise, but by calling them directly, you will usually get a lower price. Make sure to be careful though, because most salesman are commission based and make their money preforming high-pressure sales to seniors.
If you want to try out a lift chair first, you may be able to find one on display at your local medical supply company. These are often found by hospitals and may have a display room available, where you can sit and try a lift chair out first.