5 Best Recliners for Seniors

Everything else on a lift chair listing is decoration next to this one number, and it is the number listings bury hardest. Here is what the five chairs above actually state:

• 135° to 140° — a lounging angle. Comfortable for television and dozing. Not sleeping.
• 165° — close to flat, and plenty for most people who nap in the chair, but the listing does not call it flat and neither will we.
• 180° — genuinely flat. Only one chair above states this, and it needs two independent motors to do it.

The practical test: will they sleep in this chair, even occasionally? A great many older adults end up doing exactly that — because of breathing, reflux, or simply because standing up from a chair beats getting out of bed. If the answer is yes, you want a stated 180° and two independent motors, and you should treat "infinite position" in a listing title as marketing until you find the actual angle in the specifications.

Lift chairs are sized to the user, and almost nobody checks before ordering. Most standard models state a fit range of roughly 5'1" to 5'9". Outside that, two things go wrong: a seat that is too deep leaves the feet dangling and the lower back unsupported, and a footrest that stops short leaves the calves hanging.

Check three measurements against the listing, not one: the stated user height range, the seat width (standard runs around 20 to 22 inches between the arms), and the seat depth. Weight capacity is the number everyone looks at and the one least likely to be the problem — though if the user is over about 300 lb, our bariatric lift chair guide is the right page, because capacity, seat width and height sizing all change together.

When a lift chair is overloaded or heavily used, the frame is rarely what goes. The motor goes first — and not dramatically. The chair simply stops lifting one day, usually just outside the warranty period, leaving a heavy piece of furniture that no longer does the job it was bought for.

That is why any independent certification on the lift mechanism is worth more than a longer feature list, and why warranty terms deserve reading before ordering. Warranties in this category vary enormously, and the cheaper the chair, the shorter the cover — it is usually the first thing manufacturers cut.

Nearly every chair here offers heat, and for a stiff back it genuinely helps. But heat plus reduced sensation is how burns happen. If there is diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, or any reduced feeling in the legs or lower back, do not use the heat function — the warning signal that something is too hot may simply not arrive.

Massage is the feature owners most often stop using after a few weeks. It is not a reason to avoid a chair that has it, but it is a poor reason to pay more for one.

This catches almost every first-time buyer. Every chair above ships in two boxes, and standard delivery is to the kerb, not into the room. One pick weighs 145 lb assembled, so the boxes are not light, and they can arrive on different days.

So arrange help before you order, not after the boxes are on the drive. If the person buying the chair is the person who needs it — which is often the case — this is genuinely the hardest part of the purchase. Assembly itself is the easy bit: every chair above states tool-free assembly in 15 to 20 minutes.

If lifting and assembly are out of the question, renting is worth considering: rental rates include delivery, setup and collection. Our lift chair rent-vs-buy comparison walks through when that maths works.

Worth knowing if grandchildren visit. Powered recliner mechanisms generate substantial closing force, and the CPSC has recalled powered recliners over entrapment — including 375,000 glider recliners in 2011 after two children under two were trapped by the neck.

CPSC guidance is to keep the gap between the seat and the raised legrest at five inches or less, and never to let children play on or under a powered recliner. Keep the remote out of reach for the same reason it matters on an adjustable bed.

Partly, and rarely in the way people hope. Medicare Part B may cover the lifting mechanism as durable medical equipment where the criteria are met and a doctor prescribes it. The chair itself is treated as furniture and is not covered.

The practical catch: buying online from a general retailer generally forfeits any reimbursement, because the claim usually has to go through an enrolled DME supplier. If Medicare coverage is the deciding factor, speak to a supplier before buying anything on this page — and do not rely on a listing that advertises itself as “Medicare approved” without checking.

A lift chair is a significant purchase, and it is not always the first thing to try. If standing up is the problem, the cheaper interventions are worth ruling out first: a firmer, higher seat (a low soft sofa is often the real culprit), a bed assist handle if getting out of bed is the harder task, or simply the right technique — our guide on helping someone stand up safely covers the method, and the caution that doing it repeatedly is a leading cause of caregiver back injury.

The case for a lift chair gets strong when standing is difficult every time, when someone has stopped getting up as often because it is an effort, or when a carer is doing the lifting several times a day.