Gerontology 130
Working with the Frail Elderly

"Coming to a Stand" Transcript

Coming to a Stand

Once you have gotten the person that you are caring for up to a sitting position, whether it is on the bed or in a chair, and you want to get them to standing -- if you want to take them for a walk, or assist them to the bathroom -- again, the principles we talked about before are still important.

The first thing you want to do is bring them close to you. So, you want to move the person forward in the chair to get them close to you. You can do that several ways. One, which we are demonstrating here, is by shifting their weight and moving each leg forward. If they can assist you with pushing down and taking their weight off their body, that is helpful to you.

Before you have them stand up, you need to consider foot position. You want their feet at least in alignment with their knees or slightly behind them, so they are ready to take their weight when they stand up.

As you are assisting them to come to a standing position, you want them to keep their backs straight, but lean forward again so that they are shifting the weight in the direction you want to go. Depending on how much assistance they need, they can push up; you can assist by putting your hands under their arms or by moving their hips forward until they get to an upright position or standing position.

If they have weakness in one leg or another, you then need to support that knee and we will show you that again. Come to sitting, you want your loved one forward in the chair. To give you the most advantage, feet in a good position, feet in alignment with the knees or slightly behind it. They're going to shift their weight forward if they can push up with their arms. If you need to, you can support a knee or block a knee with your leg. And shift their weight at their hips until they come to an upright position. And allow them to get stable in that position before you have them ambulate or walk.

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