AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE PROBLEMS OF EASY CHAIRS USED BY THE ARTHRITIC AND THE ELDERLY

Groups such as the arthritic and the elderly are particularlysusceptible to seating problems. An extensive questionnaireto determine the nature and extent of seating difficulties wasgiven to patients at rheumatology clinics and members of daycentres for the elderly in Leeds. Forty-two per cent of subjectshad some degree of difficulty in rising from their easy chairat home and of these 18% either experienced great difficultyor could not rise unaided. Only 13% had chairs designed to aidrising (e.g. high chair) and 40% of subjects thought their chaircould be improved. Thirty-four per cent said that their easychair caused them pain or discomfort. Information about subjects'body dimensions and their easy chair dimensions was also collected.Further research based on the survey results is planned in orderto develop criteria for the design of easy chairs for the arthriticand the elderly. ^*Based on a paper presented at the Annual Provincial Meetingof the Royal Society of Medicine, Section of Rheumatology andRehabilitation, the British Association of Rheumatology andRehabilitation, Nottingham, 25 and 26 september 1980