Correct posture is critical to wellbeing and selecting the right seating option for your residents is a major decision. Good seating can help to prevent and correct the development of poor posture and some of the back and neck health problems associated with it.

Whilst we can instinctively make changes to our position it becomes more difficult for your residents when their abilities to reposition themselves are reduced by illness or disability. It is essential that your choice of seating for them helps to maintain their comfort and stability, particularly as many of them may be sitting in chairs for long periods of time during the day.

Utilising the latest frame mechanisms, innovation in pressure management and new fabric technology we are able to offer you quality British crafted chairs that are tailored to be person centred.

Why is good seating so important for your residents?

• To improve or accommodate specific postural or healthcare problems
• To provide improved support and comfort
• To ease getting in and out of chairs
• To elevate lower legs when sitting

You should place emphasis on chairs fitting your residents correctly when deciding upon chair sizing and accessories. Issues around pressure care, moving and handling and infection control issues should also be considered and addressed. The chair should provide long term comfort and adequate lumbar support, ensuring good pressure distribution of body weight and enabling your resident to rise from the chair easily.

What is good seating?

• It is designed to ENABLE not DISABLE function
• It is comfortable, well ventilated and allows your residents to have maximum stability
• It provides effective pressure relief
• It is easy to maintain and is durable
• It is well fitted to encourage good posture, pressure management, care and comfort.

The achievement of a good sitting position is the result of a number of interrelated factors requiring the chair to be tailored to your residents’ needs in terms of:-

Correct Seat Height

Too High - and the seat is difficult to get into and provides no support for the feet. This can lead to deformities (foot) and encourages your residents to slouch to enable them to rest their feet.

Too Low - and your resident’s body weight is supported on a smaller area which leads to more pressure on the coccyx and buttocks. Your resident’s knees and thighs will lift off the seat surface increasing pressure on a smaller area of the buttocks and bony prominences.

Correct Seat Width

Too Wide - and the seat offers no support or stability as the body will lean to one side causing imbalance in pressure. The arm rests will be out of reach and since these are crucial to stability your residents will lean and shift position to fill the space causing unbalanced pressure distribution.

Too Narrow - and there is an increased risk of pressure to the trochanter area on the outer thigh as well as difficulty getting in and out of the chair.

Correct Seat Depth

Too Short - and only a small area of the buttocks is supported giving a smaller area of higher pressure on the buttocks and thighs rather than an evenly distributed area at lower pressure levels, this can lead to pressure damage.

Too Long - and your residents will need to slouch down to get foot support for stability. This position puts pressure on the heels and sacral area and can inhibit circulation to the lower limbs.

Diagram showing the problems with badly fitting chairs.

What measurement are required to achieve a well fitting chair design?:

In order to ensure a good fitting chair, a full seating assessment is needed including the following measurements:

Seat Height – floor to top of seat cushion measurement with a thigh to lower leg angle of 90 degrees where possible. Your residents’ feet should ideally be positioned flat on the floor in the type of footwear normally worn when relaxing with a right angle bend at the knees to allow the upper leg to rest fully and flat on the seat cushion. To achieve the ideal chair height, measure your resident’s lower leg length from the floor to approx 1" below the back of the knee joint.

Seat Depth – the measurement is from the front of the seat cushion to the backrest of the chair. The seat cushion should be deep enough to support the entire length of the upper leg to the back of the knee without the seat cushion putting pressure on the back of the calf. To achieve the ideal chair depth measure your resident’s back from the back of the bottom to back of knee and then deduct 1" from this measurement.

Seat Width – the internal width of the seat between the armrests. To achieve the ideal chair width measure the widest point of your resident’s hips plus 0.5" to allow for thicker clothing.

Back Height – the measurement is from the top edge of the seat cushion, located at the back of the seat cushion, to the top of the backrest cushions. Make sure that your resident’s head sits comfortably on the back cushion.

Arm Height – the measurement is from the top of the seat cushion to the top of the armrest. Your resident’s arms should ideally rest comfortably on the arm rests, with the arms bent at 90 degrees and with the shoulders in a relaxed, level position.

The Repose Rimini Recliner in Wine

Here at Hcsuk we can help you by providing a seating assessment service to help you indentify the right seating solutions for your residents.

What are the essential elements of good seating?

Dynamic seating has a range of adjustments to tailor the chair to your residents’ physical requirements which enables posture and pressure distribution to be adjusted throughout the day to prevent pressure build up and encourage circulation.

These include:

• Tilt-in-space
• Back angle recline
• Elevating foot or leg rest
• Riser facility
• Vertical riser function

A correctly fitted seat will assist your residents to achieve:

• Best achievable posture
• Pressure relief
• Functional ability e.g. ease of transfer out of the chair
• Maximum comfort

Here at Hcsuk, we are proud to be working in partnership with trusted British manufacturer, Repose Seating Solutions, to bring you a comprehensive range of healthcare chairs designed to provide adaptable and affordable care solutions that give you the options you need to meet the very specific requirements of the people you care for.

We will work with you to help build your own seating solutions with choices in chair backs, pressure cushions and health grade fabrics; and with the Multi Range, the ability to continue to adapt and change the chair to meet changing care needs or to fit the chair for someone new, providing a sustainable option.

We have invested in researching specialist healthcare chairs which focus on pressure management and a wide range of individually constructed seat cushions that address a host of specific pressure area care issues. In addition, expertise in recline technology ensures that people who are sat for long periods can easily and comfortably change their position, relieving pressure on bony prominences and the weight on hip and knee joints. Whether you are nursing at home, in a residential home or in a healthcare environment our chairs carefully balance all this functionality with a range of designs to fit any setting.

How Hcsuk can help you to ensure that your residents are sitting comfortably

We can:

• Offer you an extensive new range of beautiful healthcare chairs in stunning fabrics
• Provide you with a fully bespoke, cost effective chair design service
• Conduct free individual on site seating assessments

Helping you to achieve:

• Improved patient comfort
• Increased utilisation of seating
• Reduced lifetime costs on seating

Give us a call today on 01773 713713 or email sales@hcsuk.co.uk to book in your on site seating assessment.