New type of chair, great for MD Sufferers.

Hi folks.

I have Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy and I have struggled for many years standing up from chairs. You know the procedure, lean forward onto another chair or sofa and ‘hand climb’ up the furniture until I get my legs are straight, then bend up from the waist until upright. All very hard work indeed!

I thought I would share a video of me trying out a new type of rising chair developed by a company quite local to me from Ledbury in Herefordshire called Helping Hand. It’s called a standing chair. I will be receiving one for my living room in the next week or so after some great help from my local OT.
All standing chairs from helping Hand are bespoke made by them to fit the individual. The chair in the video was ‘knocked up’ by the company for me to try, it usually comes in a single colour/pattern with several choices. The one in video is dual coloured as that was the parts available to the engineer at the time. The final version is all very nice, I chose ‘pebble’. I’m quite tall at 6ft 1″. I am not an employee or friend of anyone at the company, just a very pleased customer.

I’ve tried quite a few riser chairs in the past but none could get me to a position that I could actually stand up without leaning and pulling on something, this chair does get me up to standing!

Basically the seating area is in 2 parts, when standing up the front part tilts downwards and tucks away behind your legs, the rear part is the actual riser and has two smaller arms that keep your bum snug while going upwards. The chair gets me up into a virtual standing position, I do need a little wriggle to stand straight as you can see in the video, but I can manage it quite easily without any aids or rails to grab. This was the first time that tried the chair and also the first time I have stood up ‘unaided’ in about 10 years!

Standing Chair Link