If you suffer from arthritis, you may find that climbing stairs is difficult or impossible.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss how a stairlift can help people with arthritis and provide some advice on choosing the right model for your needs.
What is arthritis?
The term arthritis describes pain, swelling and stiffness in a joint or joints. It’s not a single condition as there are several different types.
Around 10 million people in the UK are believed to suffer from arthritis. It can affect people of all ages and perhaps surprisingly some 27,000 children, teenagers or those under the age of 25 are suffering with it today, albeit there are some forms that are more common in older people.
Whilst there’s no immediate cure for Arthritis, treatments have significantly improved in recent years, particularly inflammatory arthritis, and all evidence points to starting treatment as soon as possible.
It’s very difficult to determine what causes arthritis. It can be inherited from parents or grandparents, or it can be due to being overweight or poor diet.
Arthritis is the single biggest cause of physical disability in the UK
The effects of arthritis can make life tough for sufferers and can make getting about painful or uncomfortable, however with the right treatment you can manage your symptoms more easily.
Whilst the symptoms often vary day to day or week to week, there are also long-term conditions such as Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Spondyloarthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, and even Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), that affects children under the age of 16.
Keeping physically active is key to this approach and whilst you may not feel like exercising or fear that it might make your symptoms worse, it can help by reducing the pain and swelling as well as your muscles becoming stronger to support your joint(s) and maintain their range of movement.
Typical low-impact exercising such as cycling, swimming, brisk walking and Pilates has been proven to help those suffering with arthritis.
Living with Arthritis in your home
One of the areas that arthritis can really affect sufferers is getting up and down stairs, so it may well be worth considering purchasing or renting a stairlift.
This article will give you some very good advice into what to look out for if you want to go down this route, as well as the types available and typical costs.
Essentially these days you can get a stairlift (or chair lift as some call them) to fit pretty much every type of staircase, straight or curved. There are even models that you can use whilst standing (called a Perch Stairlift) if bending your knees or sitting is proving to be uncomfortable.
To make life easier they come with a range of powered options such as a seat that swivels automatically, a footrest that lifts automatically or even a rail that lifts automatically to prevent a trip hazard or not to block a doorway.
Naturally they also come with a vast array of safety features such as seatbelts, easy to use toggles on the arms, remote control units and even sensors that stop the lift automatically if anything is in the way.
Typical costs for a stairlift range from £1,000 for a reconditioned straight model to around £5,000 for a new bespoke curved stairlift. You may be interested to know that there can be financial help available to afford one, such as a Disabled Facilities Grant from your local council, albeit given the current economic situation this can take both a huge amount of effort and time to get approved.
There are also charities and organisations that may be able to help. Turn2us is a charity that provides financial support. You can find out on their website what grants you could be eligible for.
We’ve been installing high-quality stair lifts for over 30 years. Our dedicated team of surveyors and expert engineers always respond to enquiries quickly, as we understand the urgency of having such a solution in place, no matter how long you need it, short or long term.
