Mobilising Mum

RDHCarer

Registered User
May 4, 2015
12
0
Sandhurst, Berks
Sounds a brutal title I know but it isn't meant to be. Does anyone have any advice on this. Mum is living at home and has carers including me come to help her throughout the day. She is still quite able to walk - usually with a frame - from her chair to the loo and back. She does wear pads as she won't go to the loo herself now and needs prompting. Recently it has become difficult getting her to stand to start to walk from her riser recliner chair. The riser chair used to prompt her to get up by herself but she seems to have lost that impulse now. So when she needs to get up to be toiletted and changed its become very difficult. Once she is up she will walk happily unaided but any amount of prompting her to stand and come with us is now often met with no attempt or response. The local authority OT has been helpful in getting a standing hoist but that doesn't transition her to walking, being designed to move someone from one seated position to another. I don't want her to stop walking while she still can or she'll lose it altogether. 2 people putting our arms behind her and getting her up does work but is viewed as an "illegal" way to do it. So it seems I am stuck with no allowable way to get her up and walking. Anyone have any ideas or know how this may be overcome?? Any OT advice on legal moves we can do to get her to her feet from the chair. She is quite capable of standing. Just won't. She gets up by herself from the loo. I am only being offered options that hoist her around and sacrifice her mobility. Glad to hear any suggestions.
 

mymemories

Registered User
Apr 23, 2016
64
0
Hi, RDHCarer,

If she manages to get off the toilet have you tried a standard chair with firm arms?
My Mum has one of those chairs that have the high backs and arms so she has something firm to hold on to. What do you have in the toilet that she doesn't have around her when sitting in an armchair? Is it something to grab onto to 'lift' herself up?
Hmmm, not too sure if I have been much help to you as I feel that I maybe stating the obvious!
 

fizzie

Registered User
Jul 20, 2011
2,725
0
When my mum had probs getting off the settee because her brain wasn't sending her the right messages we did exactly that - bought an upright high seated chair with lots of padding (and added a pressure cushion) and wooden arms - we bought it from our charity shop and it was a really good make but you can get them from ebay. It did the trick because it is so easy to get out of and my ma thought it was very comfy too

a bit like this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Back...230866?hash=item3ac439e1d2:g:75IAAOSwInVXHeZE

or this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Back...729358?hash=item360175c50e:g:heQAAOSw9etXQZRG
just make sure the seat is not a low one l
 

RDHCarer

Registered User
May 4, 2015
12
0
Sandhurst, Berks
Thank you for the comments! She does already have a riser recliner chair which we raise up to try to get her started. It isn't so much that she physically can't stand I think it is more that she just won't sometimes. And that can be a problem if its necessary that she does. So some method we can use to help get her up is what we need. With or without extra equipment. She just has a standard frame around the loo and uses that fine.
 

cragmaid

Registered User
Oct 18, 2010
7,936
0
North East England
It's not that she "Won't"....her mind says " Can, but can't remember how to".

She is not being stubborn, as she will stand and walk with prompting and/or help.

I watched two carers try to get Mum to stand and I watched single carers try to get Mum to stand, and I watched Mum try to stand by herself. The safest way was to have two carers facing Mum's shoulders, put her hands on the seat arms and the carers would tuck their arms under Mum's armpits as she pushed up, then her hands were put onto her walker's handlebars. This may not be the officially correct way, but it worked.
 

fizzie

Registered User
Jul 20, 2011
2,725
0
sorry but the point I was trying to make is that my mother would never have stood from a riser recliner but from a high seated chair with wooden arms she did it right to the end of her life - put her in any other sort of chair and she had to have help - it is the stability and solidness and height that makes the difference - it is almost like sitting in a frame