Push me Pull you!

I. Cant

Nor me Galen! Neither of us could have managed it without help.

Not exactly the same I know but I do have a strategy for getting up off a mattress on the floor, or air bed for that matter. Slither out onto my knees, turn and then use the mattress to push myself up. Thankfully do not have to use that method very often!

I never sit in low seats and always ask for a dining type chair. It's not that I cannot rise out of a chair but that my back would be very painful for several days if sat in any low soft chairs.

I have long ago stopped trying to be accommodating about where I sit and always ask for a chair that looks as if it will be suitable.
Stools are often better for me than hotel "comfy chairs."

No I can't either. If I sit on a low chair, or lie on a mattress on the floor, then I'm afraid that's where I'm staying

Ah, the chair question.

Having spent a lifetime looking for the right seat wherever I go the answer is simple, don't sit on a low seat. You literally 'get stuck' unable to do anything other than ask for help or , as in my case look like an old shuffling elephant.

I've learnt to never sit on a soft seat where your knees are higher than your hips. My perfect chair is a plastic, straight backed garden chair. Nice getting old ain't it, so elegant.

I suppose it would be rude to ask how old the OP is?

Yes, it is. Ignore.

How low was the seating?

I have a dodgy hip - I turn if stuck, almost rolling over, then push myself up with my arms. I have ended up kneeling on a sofa before now and extending one leg at a time off it. I would never do it if I weren't on my own, it would be far too embarrassing. Lately I have been grabbing a big cushion to sit on - I think it may be time for us to get a higher sofa.

We have fitted a 1" riser plinth under our loo which means getting on and off is a piece of piss much easier but the problem is we've got used to it.

I got a shock when I used the loo in Sainsbury's last week and really struggled to stand up. I suppose it will have to be the disabled loos from now on.

I haven't come across this yet but I'm sure I shall ( maybe Pilates is helping)? However DH, with two knee replacements, has awful problems. He uses a special cushion that I ordered through a catalogue, to raise his sofa seat. In restaurants he tries to get carver-type seats as upper body strength is good and he levers himself up somehow. He uses the top of the open car door to get out of the car, and when faced with a sofa he feels he would not get up from, he asks for a normal chair and I often have to push against it to stabilise it when he gets up, all of which exercise takes a long time. ageing, as Soop would say, is a buggeration

I always go for a higher chair (nearly said highchair!) and would not even countenance trying to get up from the floor - just don't go there!

My problem is when I am walking with my friends. Whenever we stop for our picnic we have to find somewhere where our feet are going to be lower than our bums.

Have you all got particular health problems? I can understand this if you have hip replacements or similar, but if not...

I can get up from a 20 cm high pouffe without assistance. (Mostly by will power but I can do it)

Yes. That I can go along with tiggypiro.

Jingle

I would suspect the answer by those of us who understand the OP would answer with 'yes'.

For me it is Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and I suspect for others the same or something similar.

Golly, am feeling relatively frisky !! ( though I caught myself saying 'ooff' when rising from chair!!!)

I was doing a lot of painting of furniture in the garage the other week and sat on a low stool sometimes to paint the lower parts of furniture. Found myself in a right mess a couple of times when I realised I had nothing to grab to lever myself upwards.

Bellanonna and Luckygirl I had to stop pilates as it was getting really embarrassing trying to get up off the floor but the hospital physio gave me a sheet of exercises to do which do help to an extent.
We usually take the big raiser cushions which DH got from Occy Health but had forgotten to take them this time, think we will keep them in the car from now on.
We both try to take a carver seat when going out as I find it too tiring just to sit otherwise and we both find it difficult to get up.

Pogs and Nellie I think you are right we do try to be accommodating and not make a fuss but clearly common sense has to dictate now. It certainly isn't elegant having to struggle like a beached whale! DH was told not to sit anywhere where the angle of hip and leg was less than a right angle.

MerlotWhen we put our new bathrooms in we bought higher loos which is great at home but when you go out you can feel as if you are in the infants' loos by mistake.

Alima I had to do all that to get out of bed at normal height but now have a bar thingy to pull myself up on which has a long piece which slides under the mattress - brilliant. You should see our car loaded up with all the gadgets when we go away!

still here we do similar gymnastics!

jings Surely it isn't an age thing is it? We don't feel old but seem to be getting a bit decrepit. DH will be 70 later this year - can't believe it! We don't think we are old in our heads but when we try to do something our heads say 'let's go' and our bodies say 'you've got to be kidding!'

Can't believe how my spell checker keeps trying to change your names!

Sorry Pogs. Is there something about the OP that you know and I don't?

I would worry if I couldn't get on and off a normal toilet. Sorry, but that is awful.

I'm going for a walk! Quick!

jings treasure it all while you've got it, sadly it can all go in a split second.
Enjoy your walk, would love to be able to do that. I did have my chair out in the garden and sat in the sunshine for half an hour which was really lovely, so nice to have a gentle breeze wafting over me.

I live in a town that has a predominantly elderly population and recently one of the bus shelters needed to be replaced. A very kind (anonymous) citizen paid for the cost of a replacement and yesterday the users of the bench seat inside were all commenting on how brilliant it is that the seating is a few inches higher than usual so that people can get up easily.