CHAIR RISE STRATEGIES IN THE ELDERLY

The elderly often have difficulty with rising from a chair. The purpos e of this study was to characterize their rising strategies. A group o f 22 elderly adults with a range of functional impairments was asked t o rise from chairs of varying heights. Videotape motion analysis was u sed to identify strategies, estimate centre of mass, and measure time to rise. Three movement strategies were identified, 'momentum transfer ', 'stabilization', and 'combined' based on the velocity of trunk move ment and base of support rearrangement. 'Momentum transfer' uses horiz ontal momentum developed in the trunk to rise; 'stabilization' uses ce ntre of mass and base of support repositioning but very little momentu m;'combined' uses elements of both momentum transfer and stabilization . Differences in the time to rise and the centre of mass to base of su pport separation between the momentum transfer and stabilization strat egies were significant at each chair height. The momentum transfer, co mbined, and stabilization may form a continuum of chair rise strategie s.