As the European population continues to age, more and more people aged 65 and over report having trouble with carrying out personal care or household activities. Simple everyday tasks like showering, cooking, cleaning, or even standing up become challenging as we grow older.

Elderly care and assistance are continuously developing, with two major focus areas: improving the quality of life and offering the elderly more independence. Whether still living at home or in a care home, more independence and better quality of live can both be achieved with the help of a single device: a stand aid.

Let’s discover what stand aids are, who they are for, and if you or someone in your family needs one.

What Are Stand Aids?

Stand aids are assistive devices created to provide assistance to people who have trouble standing up on their own. While there are many different options for a stand aid, the first choice you will have to make is between a mechanised and a non-mecanised one.

Non-mechanised stand aids are ideal for people who have the ability to pull themselves into standing position. The aid helps by offering leverage, but it does not help with transfer. However, it is also a good choice if the user needs to turn to 90 or 180 degrees or to change positions.

Mechanised stand aids are the better choice for a user who can only support their own weight for a limited period of time and who are not able to pull themselves up into a standing position. They are typically endowed with slings that help the user stand up while the transfer or the task is completed.

How Do I Know If I Need a Stand Aid?

We typically associated standing aids with the elderly since they are the most common users. In fact, stand aids were created to help aging people who:

• Can no longer stand up on their own.
• Have trouble sustaining their own weight for prolonged periods of time.
• Live in care homes – in this case, it’s the caregivers who rely on stand aids to help patients move around or keep them in an upright position while their bed is changed for instance.

Thus, a stand aid is indispensable if you are caring for an elderly person with limited mobility. It will help them retain a higher degree of independence. But it will also help the caregivers with safely moving the patient without risking injuries to themselves and to the patient. This is why you will find that stand aids are increasingly common not just in care homes, but also in residential homes where elderly patients are looked after by family members.

However, stand aids aren’t just for the elderly. Other use cases include:

• Victims of accidents who need to regain their mobility after being bed-bound for longer periods of time.
• People of all ages who have suffered from long illnesses and need to recuperate.
• People who, for any other reason, have experienced muscle decay and need to re-learn how to walk.
• Overweight people who have trouble sustaining their own weight.
• Other patients who have been bed-bound for a while and for whom a stand aid can be of great help in preventing pressure ulcers.

If you or a loved one are in any of the situations described above, a stand aid can make a world of difference, both for the user and for the caregiver.

What to Consider Before Buying a Stand Aid

Before you buy a stand aid, consider the following:

• User’s weight: every stand aid is designed for a different weight limit, so make sure you read the fine print before buying one.
• User’s degree of mobility: a non-mechanised stand aid can be right for people who can support their own weight for longer periods of time and only need help standing up. If the user needs additional support and transfer assistance, consider a mechanised stand aid and/or a mobile hoist.
• Stand aid’s level of noise: some stand aids (especially the mechanised ones) can be quite noisy. For some patients, like the ones suffering from Alzheimer’s or similar neurodegenerative diseases, the noise can be troubling.

Ideally, before buying a stand aid, you should consult with a care professional. They can conduct a risk assessment of the patient and recommend the right stand aid.

Of course, you can also trial a stand aid to see if the user tolerates it and can get accustomed to it. If not, you can always exchange it for a different model or opt for a different solution altogether.