Stair and perch lifts – a mobility solution

Getting up and down a flight of stairs gets more difficult as people get older. Accidents, illnesses and other health issues can additionally make ascending and descending steps challenging and even dangerous.

The solution to getting from one level to another, particularly in a house, can often be a stairlift.

Stairlifts come in many forms including one where you are transported whilst still standing. Lifts of this type are called perch stairlifts and are ideal for those who find standing up and sitting down hard. This means that anyone who uses a riser recliner chair may find a perch lift easier to use than a regular stair lift.

More conventional stairlifts use a seat which will have a backrest and often armrests. A seat belt or security strap will be compulsory in some countries and this secures the “traveller” in place during the transition.

Stairlifts can travel up and down straight flights of steps or move around corners. Turning or curved stairlifts are more expensive as the curved sections need to be “made to measure” for the stairway in question.

If the curved section simply deals with a landing, then it will be combined with straight elements which will keep costs down, however, if the stairway is a spiral one it will have a much greater cost.

There are limitation to where and how a stairlift can be fitted.

Naturally the width of the stair needs to be sufficient to accommodate the lift and chair and the adjacent wall must be a structural one that can take the weight and fixings of the track and chair mechanism.

Certain spiral stairs can be too narrow and/or too curved to receive a stairlift installation, however this kind of occurrence is unusual.
When not in use the stairlift chair usually comes to rest just around the top or bottom bend of the stair. This means that it does not obstruct the stair and prevent more mobile people from climbing it.

Most stairlift installations can be fitted in a single day, however the manufacturing time may result in a delay between ordering and fitting. This delay will depend on how busy the supplier is and how many sections of made-to-measure tracking are required.

Once fitted a stairlift can be expected to function without problems for many years. The motors are normally robust and reliable and, although occasional servicing is required, they prove cheap to run and maintain.

Though once very expensive, this kind of mobility apparatus is now common place in many homes and it can keep a two storey house easily accessible even if personal mobility becomes an issue.

Five fingers shoes

A rather strange title for a blog and a very strange and unusual type of footwear.

Five fingers shoes are the latest fad in shoe design and they throw everything that we normally associate with shoe design out of the window.

What they are – These strange looking shoes are more like gloves for the feet. They don’t have a toe box, but instead have a separate compartment for each and every toe, five for each shoe. The upper of these shoes is light and made of fabric and the sole pretty much duplicates the appearance of the underside of a human foot, right down to the toes. This sole is also very flexible.

All told this means that these shoes act to cover and protect the feet, but they do nothing when it comes to supporting the feet, providing a sturdy sole or supporting the foot’s natural arch.

So what do they do – What they do is allow the feet to work in the most natural way possible. This means that once you get used to wearing them you will start walking as if you had bare feet. This means that all of the muscles in your feet will start working, you will feel the ground and its contours, and your toes will spread and distribute your weight as you walk. This helps balance and it good for the muscles from the legs right through to the back. Indeed, one of the claims of these five fingers shoes is that they can alleviate back pain.

What do they look like – The only sensible answer to this is odd. They look a little bit like you borrowed your feet from a character from “The Planet of the Apes”. The shoes mimic the feet, so they look like feet, but in whatever colour of shoes that you select.

What are they used for – They were developed for running, but they can be used for any activity and all of the indications are that they can improve posture, foot comfort and a range of other human conditions.

Are they a gimmick – They look like one, however the scientific evidence behind them means that they might just be the start of a footwear revolution.

Are they expensive – Yes
With a bit of luck the price will start to drop, but these beauties cost as much as a serious pair of hiking shoes, and they are not cheap.

You can find out about these and some other unusual shoe types by performing a search.