Effectiveness of the easy-up handle in acute rehabilitation.
OBJECTIVE
The ability to attain standing without assistance is important to independent functioning. The objectives of this study, therefore, were to: (1) determine the effectiveness of the Easy-Up Handle for enabling otherwise dependent patients to attain standing from an armless chair and (2) establish whether knee extension force played a role in such effectiveness.


METHODS
Cross-sectional descriptive study and explicatory experiment.


METHODS
Acute rehabilitation unit.


METHODS
A subset (n = 26) of 107 primarily elderly patients described in a previous study. The subjects were selected because of their inability to stand from an armless chair, even when using their upper limbs.


METHODS
The ability to stand from the same chair when using an Easy-Up Handle. Hand-held dynamometer measures of the combined strength of the lower extremities.


RESULTS
Eight of 26 otherwise dependent patients were able to stand up independently with the Easy-Up Handle. Whether or not they were able to attain standing with the Easy-Up Handle was predicted by their combined knee extension force and by their combined force normalized against body weight. The Pearson correlations between stand-up independence (yes, no) and the forces were 0.496 and 0.543, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The Easy-Up Handle can facilitate independence in chair rise for some patients otherwise unable to stand from sitting. Even with the Easy-Up Handle, however, a threshold of knee extension force is required.
Eriksrud
Ola
O
Student Health Services, University of Connecticut, Storrs 06250-2101, USA.
Bohannon
Richard W
RW
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D012656:Self-Help Devices; D014853:Walkers