
What it’s good for | Conditioning your muscles to the point where you can safely get in and out of a chair, using just your arms and legs to help you. Once you have achieved this, you’ll be ready to move on to the exercise Sit and stand |
How often to do it | Practise one getting-up and one getting-down drill up to 10 times every day. If it is too tiring to do all 10 at one go, do as many as you can manage, then rest and do the same number again later in the day |
Equipment you’ll need | A solid kitchen chair with arms A table or wall Edge of a sink, window sill or rail |
If you struggle to get up from a normal kitchen chair without leaning on something to help you push off, it means your leg strength is very poor and you really need to start improving it. Click here to read more about why this matters. Here are some ways to help you start practising safely
The aims
The drills here give you different ways to practise the bending and straightening movements of standing and sitting. Choose the ones that are most practical for your own circumstances at home and which work best for you. Choose a couple (one getting up, one getting down) that seem to help the most, and then keep at it, working on these every day, each time trying to get just a bit farther than the day before. It may take a couple of weeks before you start to feel it’s getting easier but do not give up! When it starts to feel easier to do, move on to a different drill or have a go at the full Sit and stand exercise.
Practice for getting up
- Drill 1: Use the arms of the chair to push you up
- Drill 2: Use a rail or edge of a sink to help pull you up
- Drill 3: Change the position of one leg to help you push off
- Drill 4: Hold and hover
Drill 1: use the arms of the chair to push you up
- Shuffle your bottom to the front of the chair
- Place your feet in front of you, toes and knees pointing forwards
- Slide your feet back a little way so that your heels are closer to the chair but still firmly on the ground
- Place your hands on the arms of the chair
- Gently suck in your lower abs (belly button)
- Count to 3 then push yourself forwards and upwards
- If you get all the way up, straighten up tall and try to stand in balance for 5 to 10 seconds before sitting down
- If you don’t manage to get all the way up, go as far as you can, try to stay there for a second, then carefully lower yourself down
- Rest and try again.
TIPS
♦ As the drill gets to feel easier, reduce the amount of pushing-off with your arms, making your legs do more of the pushing up work instead.
♦ To make your legs work harder, place a small rolled-up towel or soft ball between your knees, squeezing it as you rise from the chair
♦ If you are worried about toppling forwards, sit at a sturdy table, just far enough away to allow you to stand up properly. Having the table in front of you should make you feel safer to stand.
Drill 2: Use a rail or edge of a sink to help pull you up
If you can’t get up just by using the chair arms, try this:
- Position the chair to face the rail or sink edge that you are going to hold (check that the sink edge is dry and not slippery), quite close up
- Shuffle your bottom to the front of the chair
- Place your feet in front of you, toes and knees pointing forwards
- Slide your feet back a little so your heels are closer to the chair but still firmly on the ground
- Place your hands on rail or sink edge
- Gently suck in your lower abs (belly button)
- Count to 3 then push yourself forwards and upwards
- If you get all the way up, straighten up tall and try to stand in balance for 5 to 10 seconds before sitting down
- If you don’t manage to get all the way up, go as far as you can, try to stay there for a second, then carefully lower yourself down
- Rest and try again.
TIPS
♦ At first you may need to pull with your arms as well as pushing off with your legs. But with every attempt, try to pull less and push-off more, until you are really just touching the rail or sink for balance rather than pulling on it.
Drill 3: Change the position of one leg to help you push off
You may find this way of getting up is easier if, for instance, one leg is much stronger than the other, or if you have a weak side, or if one knee won’t bend very far. But pay attention to good posture, as this will encourage the weaker side to work harder
- Shuffle your bottom to the front of the chair
- Place your feet in front of you, toes and knees pointing forwards
- Bring one leg forwards and the other foot back (but try to keep it fully on the ground)
- Place your hands on the arms of the chair
- Gently suck in your lower abs (belly button)
- Count to 3 then push yourself forwards and upwards, taking care to avoid leaning or twisting over to one side as you go
- If you get all the way up, straighten up tall and step your back foot forwards in line with your front foot, so you can steady yourself in balance
- Try to stand in balance for 5 to 10 seconds before shuffling carefully backwards so you can feel the chair against the backs of your legs, ready to sit down
- If you don’t manage to get all the way up, go as far as you can, try to stay there for a second, then carefully lower yourself down
- Rest and try again.
If you simply cannot push up to standing at all, try this. You will need either a sink edge /rail, or place a second chair firmly against a wall, with the chair back directly in front of you.
- Sit at the front of your chair, close to a rail, sink edge (make sure it’s dry) or the back of a second chair in front of you
- Place your feet in front of you, toes and knees pointing forwards
- Slide your feet back a little so your heels are closer to you but still firmly on the ground
- Place your hands on rail, sink edge or chair-back
- Gently suck in your lower abs (belly button)
- Count to 3 then pull forwards, pushing your legs down to lift your bottom off the chair
- Stay there for 1 to 2 seconds, then lower down
- Rest, then try again.
Repeat this exercise as many times as you can until you tire, at least twice a day. Each time, try to push your bottom up a little further away from the chair. After a couple of weeks, try one of the full getting-up drills above, to see if they are any easier now.
Practice for sitting down
- Drill 1: Use your arms to help lower you
- Drill 2: hold on and hover
- Drill 3: Hold, hover, lift and lower
Drill 1: Use your arms to help lower you
- Stand in front of the chair, ready to sit
- Shuffle back until you can feel the chair against the backs of your legs (don’t turn round to look at it!)
- Pull in your lower abs (belly button) and push your bottom backwards and downwards, bending your knees as you lower down slowly
- Keep your eyes looking forwards
- when you feel you can’t lower any further, let your hands go to the sides of the chair and use your arms to help you finish lowering down.
TIPS
♦ Try to do the drill 10 times at one go, or until your legs feel too tired to continue
♦ To help your legs work harder, place a small rolled-up towel or soft ball between your knees, squeezing it as you lower
♦ Try each time to lower a bit further before you use your hands to help
♦ Don’t be alarmed if your knees creak, this is quite common
♦ Once you can get nearly all the way down without hands, move on to the full Sit and stand exercise
- Stand in front of a sink edge (make sure it is dry) or rail, with your chair just behind you
- Stand with toes and knees pointing forwards, and lightly hold the rail or sink edge
- Gently pull in your lower abs (belly button), push your bottom back and lower a little way
- Stay there for a slow count of 5, then use your legs to straighten you up again
- Repeat 10 times or until your legs get too tired to continue.
TIPS
♦ To help your legs work harder, place a small rolled-up towel or soft ball between your knees, squeezing it as you lower and hold
♦ Each time you lower and hold, try to grip less tightly, making your legs take more of your weight
♦ When it gets a bit easier, just use your fingers on the sink edge to help balance you, so your legs do all the work of lowering and hovering.
Drill 3: Hold, hover, lift and lower
- Stand in front of a sink edge (make sure it is dry) or rail, with your chair just behind you
- Stand with toes and knees pointing forwards, and lightly hold the rail or sink edge
- Gently pull in your lower abs (belly button), push your bottom back and lower it down a little way
- Stay there for 3 seconds, then lower down a bit more
- Stay there for 3 seconds, then come up just an inch or two
- Stay there for 3 seconds then lower down a fraction
- Push all the way up to standing and shake out your legs.
TIPS
♦ To help your legs work harder, place a small rolled-up towel or soft ball between your knees, squeezing it as you lower and hold
♦ As the exercise gets a bit easier, try to reduce your grip, so your legs are doing more of the work.
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