I’m having a bit of dilemma about which way to go with my next choice of chair.
After getting snowed in for 2 days last winter and not able to get Inca out I was thinking of getting an all terrain chair which had seat riser, they start at about £8,000.
I thought the seat riser be handy for getting stuff out of cupboards after trying the Dragon and realising how much easier this made things, without having to try and balance and things dropping out of cupboards if I had to let go of item to grab worktop to stop myself falling over.
I had read about the benefits of standing chairs (see one ladies story here) but most of them start at over £10,000 and way out of my budget!! Until I read the article mentioned above and discovered there was one called a Genie that started at around £5,400 and still under £6,000 for fully electric sit-to-stand (£5,900)
Unbelivably this chair is £2,000 cheaper than the X5 with no standing feature.
Is it worth investing in the all terrain chair incase we get another bad winter and I can’t get out again or stick with scooter for dog walking?
The other week when Inca was sick after we had reached the next village, I relaised that having a scooter footplate was handy as she could get a ride home quickly so I could ring vet. Also she will be 10 next year, with all the hills around here keeping a scooter for her to ride on when the hills get too much maybe a wise idea.
Having a Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) chair in the office which is currently only used as back up and too big to get around the house cos of awkward angles of doorways seems a bit silly, it doesn’t have a seat riser and I can’t use it indoors when needed. It makes more sense to replace that one with one that would be useful in the kitchen and still able to get around the little park and village as back up for when scooter needs repairs.
Adding the health benefits of a standing chair for the same price range I was thinking of to get one with recline (so can rest in it/use it as office chair whilst its parked in there!) and riser function to make cooking easier, getting stuff from cupboards, putting shopping away, hanging washing out etc seems more logical.
So where’s the dilemma I hear you asking??
I’ve always associated these kinds of chairs with people who are more physically disabled than I currently am. I’m talking like unable to stand/walk or do much for themselves.
Should I wait until I can’t stand at all before I should get one of these?
Am I going to get the same health benefits if I can only manage to stand 5 mins if I wait a few more years, than been able to stand around an hour a day in it now?
I thought it be handy for cooking dinner that usually takes around half an hour and how about half an hour whilst doing physio on wii if I have no other housework to do that day?
Standing to paint at my easel rather than sitting at the desk? Been able to stand to get a better photo at the nature park? If you’ve ever tried to hang onto a scooter with one hand whilst trying to get a better pic with the other , you’ll know where I’m coming from there! They all come out blurred from camera shake!
Could it work as a preventative solution? ie.. using it BEFORE leg muscles start wasting would keep them strong and delay when the atrophy process starts??? Physiotherapists are always stating importance of weight-bearing exercises, but if you can only hold yourself up for about 5 mins by yourself, are you getting the same benefits as you would been able to stand for an hour with support? (ie the chair is holding your body steady so you can use your arms to do other things).
Although the chair stands you up when you use it, I can still continue to include stand-up/sit-down exercises into my physio routine and using the wii balance board for the little games I can manage.
I did wonder after seeeing a demo where man removed footplates to show using the genie to stand you up (with feet on floor like for a standing transfer) if I could also use it that way with the balance board so preventing me from falling backwards (as chair is behind me ‘stood up’) but still able to move from side to side on board?
I decided the only way to know is arrange a demo so hoping to try one out next thurs, it would need to fit through swing gate and be able to handle the little path and short grass to use as back up chair outdoors as well. And I’ll try out my theory with the balance board, it may enable me to do those exercises for longer than I would have been able to otherwise too.
In the meantime, I’d be interested to know what others think about when would be the right time to purchase this chair if it was suitable?