GB2501316A

GB2501316A - Chair hand grips and supports

Info

Publication number: GB2501316A
Application number: GB1207000.9A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Grey Edward Bence Giddins
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2012-04-20
Filing date: 2012-04-20
Publication date: 2013-10-23
Also published as: GB201207000D0

Abstract

A chair 30 structured to assist an elderly, infirm or disabled person in rising from a seated position to a standing position or sitting from a standing position, includes protrusions 10 which extend in a direction forward and upward of chair arms 20. The protrusions 10 may be cuboidal, spherical, ellipsoidal, cylindrical and have a first surface sized and configured to be gripped and pulled on by the person during a stabilisation phase of rising or a de-stabilisation phase of sitting and a second surface sized and configured to be pushed against by the person during a straightening phase of rising or a bending phase of sitting. The first and second surfaces may be convex. The protrusions may be integral with the chair, on a rod 210, and retractable, or provided as an attachment to the seat or arm of the chair and extend forward and/or upward of a front edge of the chair.

Description

Improvements in chairs for the disabled, and attachments relating thereto This invention relates to chairs designed or adapted for the disabled, fcr example elderly cr infirm people or people who otherwise have difficulty in rising from a conventional chair.

The invention also relates, although not exclusively, to attachments that convert conventional chairs into chairs for the disabled.

As people get older, their legs tend to become weaker or stiffer and it may become difficult for them to stand up after sitting in a chair. Special chairs exist to help such people, but those chairs are generally rather expensive and often do not provide optimal assistance.

For most people, the optimal height for a chair is that which enables the person to sit with his or her hips and knees at right angles and his or her feet flat on the floor. Lower seats can make it hard for a person to stand up; higher seats can make it easier. However, higher seats can cause problems if the person's feet do not touch the floor when they are sitting. That problem can be solved by using a footstool in combination with a high seat; however, a footstool may not be appropriate for all disabled people and can introduce further problems.

The prior art in the field of chairs for the disabled teaches that armrests should be easy to grip and level with the front edge of a chair's seat. Armrests with rounded ends have been recommended. If the armrests project forwards, the front legs of the chair are often splayed.

Persons having difficulties rising from chairs are sometimes taught strategies to ease the rising process.

The special chairs and accessories that exist for the disabled inolude riser chairs and riser cushions. Examples of such devices include mechanisms that tilt the seat or chair forwards, as well as mechanisms that also raise the seat, the seat plus the armrests or even the whole chair. Such mechanisms may be manually powered or powered by a spring or hydraulic mechanism. The devices tend to be expensive and serious safety issues can arise, for example when the person sitting in the chair is tilted unexpectedly or before he or she is properly prepared to stand. The devices often require proximity to a power supply, which can be disadvantageous.

W098/02065 describes a seat said to make sitting and rising from a seated position easier, safer and more comfortable for the elderly or individuals with temporary or permanent disabilities. The document describes a seat having (i) a seating surface that is higher than conventional seats and can be horizontal or tilted slightly forward and (ii) arms that extend beyond the front edge of the seating surface. The arms have a plurality of secure support surfaces. The document also describes a chair having front legs that extend beyond the front edge of the seating surface.

It is desirable to provide an improved support device for people, who have difficulty in rising from a conventional chair, that mitigates or eliminates at least some of the above-mentioned disadvantages.

A first aspect of the invention provides a ohair structured to assist a disabled person in rising from a seated position to a standing position or sitting from a standing position, the devioe including a plurality of arms, at least two of said arms each oomprising a protrusion extending in a direction forward and upward of said arm, the protrusion having a first surface sized and configured to be gripped and pulled on by the person during a stabilisation phase of rising from the seated position to the standing position or a destabilisation phase of sitting from the standing position to the sitting position and a second surface sized and configured to be pushed against by the person during a straightening phase of a rising from the seated position to the standing position or a bending phase of sitting from the standing position to the sitting position.

The inventor has carried out testing to model the change in force on a person's legs as he or she stands up from a seated position. Those tests show that the critical part of the standing process is pushing by the legs at the last moment, as the person gets close to a standing position.

More specifically, there are 3 phases the elderly (or those who may have weaker leg muscles) go through when they stand from a seated position.

a) Initiation: they will generally shuffle forwards slightly such that their legs are further underneath their body. They will then "throw'T themselves forward (again so that they can get their centre of gravity over their feet as soon as possible) b) Stabilisation: Typically, they will hold on to the end of the armrests of a chair or other support in order to try and advance to a stable position i.e. with their centre of gravity over their feet. During this phase, when using the chair of the invention, the person grips the protrusion and pulls against its first surface, to raise their centre of gravity to the stable position. The further forward the ends of the armrests are, the more initiation force is aohievable. It is readily observable that, when one tries to stand unaided from a seated position, the thigh muscles are working overtime; persons with weaker thigh muscles will tend to fall back. In order to prevent this, it is advantageous for them to keep their hands in contact with the ends of the armrests for as long as possible. Hence, having a support whioh is further forward and higher than existing armrests is particularly helpful.

c) straightening: Once stable, they can straighten legs and stand. During this phase, the person using the chair of the invention pushes downwardly on the second surface of the protrusion.

The same is also true in reverse (i.e., in sitting down) -the thigh muscles control descent but one has much more control if one can use one's hands. There is a first, bending, phase, during which the person presses down on the second surface of the protrusion as they bend their legs. There is then a second, de-stabilisation phase, during which the person pulls against the first surface of the protrusion, as they move their centre of gravity from over their feet to over the chair.

There is then a final phase in which the person becomes seated in the chair, adjusting to a comfortable position if necessary.

The inventor has found that by increasing the height of the ends of the arm rest (where the hands meet the arms) the body is supported for a greater length of time and this reduces the icading on the legs, particularly during that critical middle phase of the standing process.

Thus by forming or attaching an object at or near the end of the arms -and thus raising the height of the position at which the hands grip onto the arms -it becomes easier to stand-up.

In theory, it is desirable for the protrusion to extend as far upwards and forwards from the arm as possible, in order to maximise the support provided. Tn practice, there wilt inevitably be a compromise when designing the protrusion, between, on the one hand the desirability of it extending a long way upwards and forwards and, on the other hand, the danger of instability, the need to keep the protrusion within easy reach of a person sitting in the chair, and aesthetic considerations. Thus the protrusion may extend (to its highest point) by 5 cm or more, 7 cm or more, 10 cm or more, 15 cm or more, 20 cm or more, 30 cm or more, or 50 cm or more upwards from the arm. The protrusion may extend (to its most forward point) by 5 cm or more, 7 cm or more, 10 cm or more, 15 cm or more, 20 cm or more, 30 cm or more, or 50 cm or more forwards from the arm.

It may be that the first and second surfaces are generally convex.

It may be that the first surface is a front surfaoe of the protrusion and the second surface is a top surface of the protrusion -It may then be that the front surface extends (to its highest point) by 5 cm or more, 7 cm or more, 10 cm or more, 15 cm or more, 20 cm or more, 30 cm or more, or 50 cm or more upwards from the arm. The top surface may extend (to its most forward point) by 5 cm or more, 7 cm or more, 10 cm or more, 15 cm or more, 20 cm or more, 30 cm or more, or 50 cm or more forwards from the arm.

It may be that the top surface is entirely in front of the arm. It may be that the protrusion is substantially or entirely in front of the arm.

It may be that the protrusion has a head portion and a neck portion, the first and second surfaces being comprised in the head portion.

The support device will typically also include one or more legs or other means for separating the arms from the floor or other surface on which the support device rests. Each of the at least two arms may have a front surface and the protrusion may extend forward of said front surface. The protrusion may extend to its most forward point by 5 cm or more forward of said arm or said front surface.

The protrusion may be of any suitable shape; for example, the protrusion may be substantially cuboidal, spherical or cylindrical. It is desirable for the protrusion to be large enough to be gripped comfortably by a human hand; thus, the protrusion may have a side length or radius of 3 cm or more, 5 cm or more, 7 om or more or 10 om or more; more generally, thus it may be that the protrusion (of whatever shape) has no transverse dimension smaller than 3 cm, 5 cm, 7 om or 10 cm.

It may be that the protrusion has no transverse dimension larger than 10 om, 15 om, 30 om or 50 cm.

The protrusion may be attached to the chair by any suitable method, for example forming, screwing, clamping, strapping or bracketing. The chair may be formed with the protrusion by moulding of a plastics material.

The protrusion may be factory fitted. The protrusion may be formed integrally with the arm.

The chair may have a seat, having a front edge, and wherein at least two of said arms each has a distal portion, extending towards or beyond said front edge, wherein said protrusion extends in a direction upward and forward of said distal portion, and wherein the protrusion is arranged to be gripped by a person to assist that person in rising to a standing position from a seated position in the chair or lowering themselves down from a standing to a seated position in the chair.

It will be understood that the chair is a chair for the disabled and not a ceremonial or decorative chair, such as might have protruding decorative elements on its arms. It may be that the chair is not made of wood. It may be that the chair is not carved. It may be that the protrusion is not formed integrally with the chair.

The protrusion may be fitted to an existing chair; i.e., the protrusion may have been attached to the arm subsequent to the chair's manufacture.

The protrusion may be retractable. For example, it may be foldable away from the top of the arm. Z hinge and lock ("flip and clip) mechanism may enable the folding.

The protrusion may provide a second function for a person sitting in the chair. For example, the protrusion may provide a storage space (for example, it may be hollow), or it may function as a cup holder or it may be arranged to hold a television remote control.

The chair may further comprise a plurality of legs, at least some of which may be splayed. The splayed legs may be the legs at the front of the chair.

If the protrusion is not formed integrally with the chair when the chair is manufactured, it may be provided together with or separately from the chair. Thus, a second aspect of the invention provides an attachment structured to assist a disabled person in rising from a seated position to a standing position or sitting from a standing position for attaching to a chair including a seat having a front edge, the attachment comprising a protrusion and being configured so that, when attached to the chair, said protrusion extends in a direction forward and upward of a said front edge, said protrusion has a first surface sized and configured to be gripped and pulled on by the person during a stabilisation phase of rising from the seated position to the standing position or a de-stabiiisation phase of sitting from the standing position to the sitting position and a second surface sized and configured to be pushed against by the person during a straightening phase of a rising from the seated position to the standing position or a bending phase of sitting from the standing position to the sitting position.

The attachment may be suitable for attachment to a wide variety of general-purpose chairs. It may be attached to a chair by any appropriate mechanism.

The attachment may be configured to be attached directly to the seat of the chair. Alternatively, the attachment may be configured to be attached to a distal portion of an arm of the chair.

Each arm of the chair may be provided with a separate attachment, to form its protrusion. Alternatively, the attachment may comprise two or more of the protrusions joined together at a separation approximately equal to the separation of adjacent arms of the chair. The protrusions may be joined, for example, by a strip shaped to fit underneath a seat cushion comprised in the chair. The attachment may further comprise a booster seat, which may be arranged between two adjacent protrusions of the attachment.

The device may be structured to be placed around a seat, so that the person is assisted in rising from a seated position on the seat to a standing position.

The seat may be a seat of a lavatory. The arms that have the protrusions may be arm frames around a lavatory for use by disabled people.

It will be appreciated that features of the invention described in relation to the protrusion of a chair according to the first aspeot of the invention are equally applicable to the attachment of the second aspect of the invention and vice versa.

Certain illustrative embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a chair according to an example of an embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 shows a modified armrest of the chair of Fig. 1 in more detail; Fig. 3 is eight plots (a-h) against time (in seconds) of vertical foot force (as a percentage of bodyweight) exerted when standing from a sitting position, for two subjects, A & B: (a), (b) & (c) using hands, unmodified chair; (d) not using hands; (e) & (f) using hands, modified chair, lower setting; and (g) & (h) using hands, modified chair, higher setting.

Fig. 4 is a bar chart showing peak vertical foot force for four different armrest configurations (a) for subjects A & B and (b) the averages of the data shown in (a) Fig. 5 is a schematic illustration of a chair according to another example of an embodiment of the invention, with a low modified armrest; Fig. 6 is a schematic illustration of a chair according to another example of an embodiment of the invention, with a high modified armrest; Fig. 7 is a schematic illustration of a chair according to another example of an embodiment of the invention, with an arm modified by provision of a cuboidal protrusion; Fig. 8 is a schematic illustration of a chair according to another example of an embodiment of the invention, with an arm modified by provision of a cylindrical protrusion; Fig. 9 is a schematic illustration of a ohair aocording to another example of an embodiment of the invention, with an arm modified by provision of a ellipsoidal protrusion; Fig. 10 is a sohematic illustration of a chair according to another example of an embodiment of the invention, with an arm modified by provision of a spherical protrusion including an integral cup holder; Fig. 11 is a schematic illustration of a chair according to another example of an embodiment of the invention, with an arm modified by provision of a retractable protrusion, shown (a) extended and (b) retracted; The principal behind the invention was tested by attaching protrusions in the form of spherical blocks 10 to the end of each armrest 20 of a convention chair 30 (Figs. 1 and 2) . The blocks were wooden and were attached to a bolt, which at its other end was bolted through armrest 20, near its end furthest from back 50 of chair 30. The blocks extended upward of a top surface of the armrest 20 and forward of a front surface or edge of the armrest 20 (i.e. the forward most point of the blocks was in front of the front surface or edge of the armrest 20).

In the test, eaoh subject sat in the chair 30 and then stood up whilst gripping the protrusions 10. The downward force exerted by the subject's feet was measured using a force plate on the floor, on which the subject stood as he or she rose from the chair 30. The experiment was repeated on two subjects under four different conditions: standing without using hands; standing whilst gripping the normal, unmodified, protrusion-free armrests, standing whilst gripping relatively low protrusions and standing whilst gripping relatively high protrusions.

The graphs in Fig. 3 (a) to (h) show examples of the variation in peak vertical force (denoted by black arrows) occurring during single instances of standing up from chair 30.

Graphs (a), (b), (e) and (g) are from subject A; the other four are from subject B. The results averaged over five tests are shown in Fig. 4 (a) for each subject and (b) averaged across both subjects.

With no hands, the peak force exerted by the subject's feet is close to 120% of the subject's bodyweight. Using normal armrests the peak force drops to about 100% of the subject's body weight. Using low or high modified armrests, the peak force drops to about 30% of the subject's body weight. It is clear from Fig. 4(a) that the results were similar for both of the two subjects.

Thus provision of a protrusion provides a 20% reduction in the peak force required compared with using conventional chair arms. A reduction of that magnitude is significant for an elderly or infirm person or a person who otherwise has difficulty in rising from a conventional chair.

Examples of alternative protrusion arrangements are shown in Figs. 5 to ii.

In a first further example (Fig. 5), the chair 30 has a spherical protrusion 100 that is bolted directly to arm 20.

In a second further example (Fig. 6), the chair 30 has a spherical protrusion 200 that is attached to arm 20 via rod 210.

In a third further example (Fig. 7), the chair 30 has a ouboidal protrusion 300 that is bolted directly to arm 20.

In a fourth further example (Fig.8), the chair 30 has a cylindrical protrusion 400 that is attached to arm 20 via long bolt 410.

In a fifth further example (Fig. 9), the chair 30 has an ellipsoidal protrusion 500 that is attached to arm 20 via long bolt 510.

In a sixth further example (Fig. 10), the chair 30 has a spherical protrusion 600 that is attached directly to arm 20.

Protrusion 600 includes hinged lid 610, which opens to uncover cavity 620, which is sized to receive a coffee mug or the like.

Thus, protrusion 600 is provided with a second function, in addition to assisting a person to stand.

In a seventh further example (Fig. 11), the chair 30 has a spherical protrusion 700 that is attached to arm 20 via rod 710. Rod 710 is attached to arm 20 via a hinge, which enables it, and therefore protrusion 700, to be rotated from an extended position (Fig. 7(a)), in which it can be used by a person to get up from the chair 30, to a retracted position (Fig. 7(b)), in which it is less obtrusive.

Whilst the present invention has been described and illustrated with reference to particular embodiments, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the invention lends itself to many different variations not specifically illustrated herein. For that reason, reference should be made to the claims for determining the true scope of the present invention.

Claims

Claims 1. A chair structured to assist a disabled person in rising from a seated position to a standing position or sitting from a standing position, the device including a plurality of arms, at least two of said arms each comprising a protrusion extending in a direction forward and upward of said arm, the protrusion having a first surface sized and configured to be gripped and pulled on by the person during stabilisation phase of rising from the seated position to the standing position or a de-stabilisation phase of sitting from the standing position to the siting position and a second surface sized and configured to be pushed against by the person during a straightening phase of rising from the seated position to the standing position or a bending phase of sitting from the standing position to the sitting position.
2. A chair as claimed in claim 1, in which the first and second surfaces are generally convex.
3. A chair as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, in which the first surface is a front surface of the protrusion and the second surface is a top surface of the protrusion.
4. A chair as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the protrusion extends to its most forward point by 5 cm or more forward of said arm.
5. A chair as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the protrusion has a head portion and a neck portion, the first and second surfaces being comprised in the head portion.
6. A chair as claimed in claim 5, wherein the protrusion is substantially cuboidal, spherical or cylindrical.
7. A chair as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the protrusion has a side length or diameter of 5 cm or mcre.
8. A chair as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the protrusion has no transverse dimension smaller than 5 cm.
9. A chair as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the protrusion extends to its highest point 5 cm or more upwards from the arm.
10. A chair as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the protrusion is formed integrally with the arm.
11. A chair as claimed in any of claims 1 to 10, having a seat, having a front edge, and wherein at least two of said arms each has a distal portion, extending towards or beyond said front edge, wherein said protrusion extends in a direction upward and forward of said distal portion, and wherein the protrusion is arranged to be gripped by a person to assist that person in rising to a standing position from a seated position in the chair or lowering themselves down from a standing to a seated position in the chair.
12. A chair as claimed in any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the protrusion has been attached to the arm subsequent to the chair's manufacture.
13. A chair as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the protrusion is retractable.
14. A chair as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the protrusion provides a second function for a person sitting in the chair.
15. An attachment, structured to assist a disabled person in rising from a seated position to a standing position or sitting from a standing position, for attaching to a chair including a seat having a front edge, the attachment comprising a protrusion and being configured so that, when attached to the chair, said protrusion extends in a direction forward and/or upward of said front edge, said protrusion has a first surface sized and configured to be gripped and pulled on by the person during stabilisation phase of rising from the seated position to the standing position or a de-stabilisation phase of siting from the standing position to the siting position and a second surface sized and configured to be pushed against by the person during a straightening phase of rising from the seated position to the standing position or being phase of sitting from the standing position to the sitting position.
16. An attachment as claimed in claim 15, said attachment being configured to be attached directly to the seat of the chair.
17. An attachment as claimed in claim 15, configured to be attached to a distal portion of an arm of the chair.
18. An attachment as claimed in claim 17, comprising two or more of the protrusions joined together at a separation approximately egual to the separation of adjacent arms of the chair.
19. An attachment as claimed in claim 18, further comprising a booster seat.
20. A device as claimed in claim 15, structured to be placed around a seat, so that the person is assisted in rising from a seated position on the seat to a standing position.
21. A device as claimed in claim 20, wherein the seat is a seat of a lavatory.