GB2190004A - Apparatus for helping the disabled to stand from a sitting position - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus of Figure 3 comprises a support structure in the form of a frame 31 and releasable anchorage means comprising a footplate 32. The frame has front and rear support legs, 33 and 34, the front legs 33 being engageable with the footplate 32 via brackets 36 to anchor the frame 31 to the ground with the feet of a user resting on the footplate 32. This prevents the frame 31 tipping rearwardly when the apparatus is used as a standing aid, and enables a seated user holding handgrips 42 on the frame 31 to pull himself (or herself) up to a standing position. The frame 31, when detached from the footplate 32, can be used as a walking frame. In another embodiment (Figure 2), the anchorage means comprises a suction pad arrangement (25) which holds the apparatus to the ground. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for Use by the Disabled The invention relates to apparatus for use by the disabled, and is particularly concerned with apparatus for assisting a disabled or infirm user to rise from a seated to a standing position, and vice versa.

There are many disabled and infirm people who are not able to rise from a chair or toilet seat, for example, without attendant assistance but who have adequate strength in their arms to pull themselves up unaided if a suitable handhold or grab rail is available. There are also many people who require the attention of at least two attendants for procedures such as toileting, whereas they are able to support themselves in a standing position if they can grab hold of a suitable support thus requiring the presence of only one attendant for such purposes as clothing removal, etc.

The invention was developed to assist such people and to provide apparatus usable either in a domestic environment or as a nursing aid in a hospital or nursing home, in the latter case being particularly useful in toileting procedures.

To this end apparatus to assist a disabled or infirm user to rise from a seated to a standing position according to the invention comprises a mobile or portable support structure which rests on the floor and which can be positioned in front of the user with the latter seated, for example in a chair or on a WC, the support structure providing handgrips or a grab rail or bar which can be gripped by the seated user to pull himself (or herself) up to a standing position, the apparatus including releasable anchorage means operative to anchor the support structure relative to the ground and which act to provide a stabilising moment which overcomes the tendency for the support structure to tip rearwardly, i.e.

towards the user, as the user pulls on the support structure when rising to the standing position.

The releasable anchorage means may comprise a suction pad arrangement operative to anchor the support structure directly to the ground or to a wall, preferably the former with the suction pad arrangement mounted on the support structure forwardly of the rearmost point of floor engagement thereof. For security the arrangement may comprise a plurality of suction pads and the support structure may be pivotable about the suction pad arrangement so that it can swing round about the anchorage with accompanying movement of the standing user along an arcuate path supported by the support structure. To facilitate such movement, and/or use as a walking aid with the user standing and the anchorage means released, the support structure may be mounted on castors.

Instead of the aforesaid suction pad arrangement, anchorage of the support structure may be achieved by means of a fixed floor or wall anchor point to which the support structure can be detachably attached.

Alternatively the anchorage means may comprise a footplate or footrests on which the feet of the user can be positioned so thatthe weight of the user holds down the apparatus against the tendency for the support structure to tip over. In other words, the applied weight of the user provides a stabilising moment which is at all times greater than the tipping moment due to the pull of the user's arms on the support structure. Thus the apparatus is securely held down without there being any need to provide fixed anchorages, or to provide any form of fixing or attachment to the floor or any other structural surface.

The apparatus is desirably usable as a walking frame when the user has achieved the standing position and this will enable many users, for example, to rise from a chair, walk to the toilet and return to the chair unaided, or substantially unaided.

To this end the footplate or footrests may be fixed to the support structure, and for example may comprise a hinged footplate which when not in use can be folded up out of the way of the feet of the user so as not to impede use as a walking frame.

However, in preferred constructions a separate footplate is employed which rests on the floor, being engageable by the support structure to act as an anchor plate whilst the user rises from the seated to the standing position. It will be appreciated that the footplate must extend rearwardly sufficiently for the maximum stabilising moment available, due to the weight of the user acting above the rear edge of the footplate, to be greater than the tipping moment in use applied to the support structure.In this case the support structure may take the general form of a conventional walking frame, or mobile so-called "Rollator" mounted on castors, and the footplate preferably has spaced rearwardly directed limbs, in use extending behind the user, which are overall narrow enough to fit beneath a chair, particularly a wheelchair, and which have a spacing adequate to allow them to fit around a WC pan straddling the latter.

The required engagement of the support structure frame with the anchor footplate may be achieved by clips or the like which project from two front legs of the frame and are engageable with edge recesses in the footplate for anchorage purposes. Such engagement holds down the front legs and prevents the frame tipping rearwardly towards the user.

The invention will now be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, two preferred embodiments of the invention. In the drawings: Figure lisa plan view of one embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 isa frontviewthereof; Figure 3 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention; and Figures 4 and 5 are detail views relating to said another embodiment.

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate an apparatus designed for supporting a disabled, elderly or infirm user whilst rising from a seated position to a standing position with a minimum of assistance and which, with the user standing, can then be employed as a walking frame of Rollatortype. The apparatus comprises a mobile support structure 1 and releasable floor anchorage means 2. The structure 1 consists of a tubular metal frame (for example of aluminium alloy or light gauge steel) defining a tripod structure.

The structure 1 includes two parallel and horizontally extending handles 10 and 11, the handle 10 being above and disposed forwardly of the handle 11,which are fixed between right and left legs 12 and 13 of thetripod frame structure, which includes forward legs 14 and 15 formed continuously with the legs 12 and 13. Base members 16 and 17 at each side of the frame structure respectively extend from near the bases of the legs 12 and 13 to a forefoot 18-at which the base members 16, 17 and forward legs 14, 15 converge.

Floor support castors 19 and 20 are provided at the bottom ends of the legs 12 and 13 respectively and a pair of castors 21,22 are provided one at each side of the forefoot 18. As an alternative to the castor support illustrated the castors could be replaced by friction pads, or friction pads with retractable castors.

The releasable anchorage means 2 comprises a plate 23 mounted below the forefoot 18 and below which a pair of suction pads 24 and 25 of rubber or equivalent material are mounted. The pads 24, 25 can be employed to anchor the frame structure 1 to the floor by pressing them firmly into contact with the floor after the frame structure 1 has been positioned directly in front of the seated user. The apparatus can then be used to assist the user to rise from the seated to a standing position, holding on to the handles 10, 11 and exerting all necessary pulling load on the support structure 1, the floor anchorage provided by the suction pads 24, 25 providing a stabilising moment about the rear castors 19, 20 which prevents the support structure 1 tipping rearwardly, i.e. towards the user, about the castors 19,20.

When the user has achieved the standing position and is satisfactorily supported in that position by the frame structure 1 the grip of the suction pads 24,25 can be released by a foot-operated release device of known type (not shown) to enable the apparatus to be used as a walking frame in the usual way. The release device may alternatively be a hand-operated device including an air expulsion rod. Using the apparatus a single attendant can assist an infirm user to stand up without requiring help from a colleague to steady the frame or lift the user's weight.

The apparatus illustrated in Figures 3 to 5 comprises a support structure 31 and releasable anchorage means comprising a separate footplate 32. The structure 31 is of tubular metal and in construction closely resembles a conventional walking frame. Thus it has two front legs 33 and two rear legs 34, the latter being more widely spaced than the former so that a user can stand within the plan area of the frame. For use as a walking frame the legs 33 and 34 have pushed-on plastics ferrules 35, which provide feet which rest on the floor and provide a frictional grip therewith.

To enable the support structure frame 31 to be used to assist the user to rise from a seated to a standing position, the front legs 33 each have an Lshaped bracket 36 attached at the bottom end of the leg by rivets 37. An inwardly projecting limb 36a of each bracket 36 can be engaged within an edge recess 38 of the plate 32 so that it acts as an achor clip which holds down the corresponding leg 33.

This overcomes the tendency for the frame 31 to tip rearwardly, towards the user, when the plate 32 is held down by the weight of the user whose feet are positioned on the plate 32.

The plate 32 has rearwardly projecting and spaced limbs 39, the spacing of which provides a U-shaped opening which enables the limbs 39 to straddle a WC pan 41, for example, a typical WC pan being illustrated in broken lines in Figure 3. The overall width of the limbs 39 is such that they can alternatively be positioned beneath a chair, particularly a wheeichair (not shown). Thus a person seated on the WC pan 41, or in the chair, can place his or her feet on the plate 32 within the frame 31 and, grasping two spaced handgrips 42 on the frame 31, pull himself or herself up to a standing position using the strength of the arms to assist whatever strength in the legs might be available.

The user can similarly use the apparatus to lower himself or herself from the standing position to the seated position. During either rising or lowering movement the pull of the arms on the frame 31, applied at the handgrips 42 and tending to tip the frame 31 rearwardly about the legs 34, is more than counter-balanced by the anchoring moment resulting from the weight of the user applied to the plate 32 and acting about the outer ends of the plate limbs 9. The limbs 9 extend rearwardly for an adequate distance to ensure that this anchoring moment stabilises the frame structure 31 and overcomes any tipping moment in use applied.

At the front end, opposite the limbs 39, the plate 32 has tapering side faces 43 to provide a lead for frame engagement and to ensure that if the frame 31 is engaged with the plate 32, with the legs 33 resting on the floor, the anchor clips 36 are securely engaged with the edge recesses 38. As can be seen in Figure 5, the rear legs 34 rest on the plate 32 when the frame is engaged therewith so that vertical loading of these legs assists in holding down the plate. At its front edge 44, between the side faces 43, the plate 32 is chamfered off to provide a thin edge to avoid tripping up the user.

When not in use with the plate 32 the frame 31 can be used as a normal walking frame. Whilst it is as illustrated similar in form to existing walking frames, it will be appreciated that it is of somewhat stronger construction to withstand the stresses induced during rising of the user from a seated position, which are stresses to which a walking frame is not normally subjected.

It will further be appreciated that the apparatus can provide increased mobility for geriatric and similarly infirm users who can use a walking frame but are unable to rise from a seated position unaided. It can also be used as a nursing aid, so that a single attendant can handle a patient where otherwise at least two attendants would be necessary, for example during toileting procedures.

In a modification, not shown in the drawings, the rear legs 34 of the frame also have anchor clips which engage suitable anchorages on the plate 32, and the arrangement is such that on disengagement of the frame 31 the front legs 33 disengage before the rear legs 34. This provides an additional safety feature which ensures that with the frame 31 engaged the application of a forward force cannot tip it forwardly, i.e. away from the user.

Claims (17)

1. Apparatus to assist a disabled or infirm user to rise from a seated to a standing position, comprising a mobile or portable support structure which rests on the floor and which can be positioned in front of the user with the latter seated, for example in a chair or on a WC, the support structure providing handgrips or a grab rail or bar which can be gripped by the seated user to pull himself (or herself) up to a standing position, the apparatus including releasable anchorage means operative to anchor the support structure relative to the floor and which act to provide a stabilising moment which overcomes the tendency for the support structure to tip rearwardly, i.e. towards the user, as the user pulls on the support structure when rising to the standing position.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the releasable anchorage means comprise a suction pad arrangement operative to anchor the support structure directly to the floor orto a wall.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the releasable anchorage means comprise a footplate orfootrests on which the feet of the user can be positioned so that the weight of the user holds down the apparatus against the tendency for the support structure to tip over.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the releasable anchorage means enable the support structure to be detachably attached to a fixed floor orwall anchor point.

5. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the suction pad arrangement is operative to anchor the support structure directly to the floor and is mounted on the support structure forwardly of the rearmost point of floor engagement thereof.

6. Apparatus according to claim 2 or claim 5, wherein the suction pad arrangement comprises a plurality of suction pads.

7. Apparatus according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the support structure is pivotable about the suction pad arrangement.

8. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the footplate or footrests are fixed to the support structure.

9. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the releasable anchorage means comprise a footplate which rests on the floor and is engageable by the support structure to act as an anchor plate whilst the user rises from the seated to the standing position.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the footplate has spaced and rearwardly directed limbs which in use extend behind the user, said limbs being overall of a width to fit beneath a typical chair and having a spacing to allow them to fit around a WC pan straddling the latter.

11. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the support structure is adapted for use as a walking frame with the user standing and the anchorage means released, and is mounted on castors or supported on the floor by friction pads or ferrules.

12. Apparatus according to claim 8 or claim 11, wherein the footplate or footrests is or are hinged to the support structure and can be folded up out of the way of the feet of the user for use of the support structure as a walking frame.

13. Apparatus according to claim 9 and claim 11, wherein the support structure provides a walking frame of tubular metal construction with front and rear legs which rest on the floor, and said releasable anchorage means comprise clips or the like which project from the two front legs of the frame and are engageable with edge recesses in said footplate for anchorage purposes.

14. Apparatus according to claim 13, wherein when the support structure is engaged with the footplate the front legs rest on the floor and the rear legs rests on the footplate.

15. Apparatus according to claim 13 or claim 14, wherein the footplate has side faces which are formed with said edge recesses and which taper inwardly towards the front end of the footplate to provide a lead for frame engagement.

16. Apparatus according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the rear legs of the support structure are also engageable with the plate so that the application of a forward force to the support structure cannot tip it forwardly, the arrangement being such that on disengagement of the support frame from the footplate the front legs disengage before the rear legs.

17. Apparatus to assist a disabled or infirm userto rise from a seated to a standing position constructed and arranged substantially as herein particularly described with reference to Figures 1 and 2, or Figures 3 to 5, of the accompanying drawings.