IN SHORT: Does your parent struggle to stand up from a chair, rock back and forth before rising, or reach for someone’s hand to pull themselves up? These can be signs of declining leg strength, changes in balance, or fear of falling. The height of the chair and the way the body moves during standing can also make a difference. Understanding what makes this everyday movement difficult can help families recognize when an older adult may need additional support.
Why Does Getting Out of a Chair Become Harder With Age?
Getting out of a chair may seem like a simple movement, but it requires several things to work together. The muscles in the thighs, hips, and buttocks must lift the body, while balance and coordination help a person shift their weight forward and rise safely.
A certain amount of leg strength is needed to make standing up easier.
When those muscles are not strong enough, standing can become slow, difficult, or even frightening. An older adult may push hard with their arms, rock back and forth before rising, or ask someone to pull them up.
A parent may still be able to walk around the house but struggle to get up from a low couch or dining chair. Difficulty standing can be an early sign that they are losing the functional leg strength needed for everyday independence.
If your parent suddenly has difficulty standing, especially with new weakness, dizziness, severe pain, or other new symptoms, contact a healthcare professional promptly. Sudden weakness on one side of the body or difficulty speaking requires emergency care.
1. Weak Leg Muscles Make Standing More Difficult
As leg and hip muscles weaken, an older adult may have trouble generating enough force to rise from a seated position. They may push heavily with their arms, need several attempts, or avoid sitting in chairs that are difficult to get out of.
You might notice that your parent can walk but struggles to rise from the couch, toilet, or dining chair. Walking and standing up from a chair place different demands on the muscles. Walking alone may not provide enough resistance to build the strength needed for more demanding movements, such as rising from a low seat, climbing stairs, or getting into a car.
Being able to walk does not necessarily mean someone has the leg strength needed for every everyday movement.
Building functional leg strength helps older adults develop the strength needed for these daily activities.
Learn more: What Is Strength Training for Older Adults? Understanding Functional Leg Strength.
2. The Chair May Be Too Low
Not every chair is equally easy to get out of. A low, soft sofa can be much harder to rise from than a firm dining chair. When a seat is low, the legs must work harder to lift the body. Soft cushions can also allow a person to sink down, making it more difficult to get moving.
A simple change in chair height can sometimes make a big difference. Look for a firm chair that allows your parent to sit with both feet flat on the floor and their hips level with or slightly higher than their knees. Armrests can provide support when standing.
Notice whether your parent has more difficulty rising from certain chairs than others. If standing is difficult from nearly every chair, weakness, balance changes, or other physical challenges may also be contributing.
3. Fear of Falling Forward Can Make Standing Frightening
Standing up requires a person to lean forward and shift their weight over their feet before pushing upward. For an older adult who feels unsteady, this movement can be frightening.
Fear of falling forward may cause a person to hold back from leaning forward, making it even harder to stand.
What looks like hesitation or a lack of effort may actually be a combination of weakness and fear. If your parent has fallen before or feels unsteady on their feet, they may avoid the movement needed to stand safely.
Confidence matters, but confidence alone cannot replace the strength needed to stand.
Older adults need both the physical ability to rise and enough confidence to perform the movement safely. Addressing the underlying weakness and balance challenges can help make standing feel more manageable.
4. Reaching for Someone’s Hand May Seem Like the Easiest Solution
When standing becomes difficult, an older adult may reach for a family member’s hand or arm and ask to be pulled up. Although this may seem like the quickest solution, pulling can put both people at risk of losing their balance.
It also may not address the reason standing has become difficult. Your parent may lack the leg strength needed to lift their body, struggle to shift their weight forward, or be using a chair that is too low.
Instead of relying on pulling, consider whether the chair provides enough support and whether your parent’s difficulty standing needs to be assessed by a physical therapist.
How Tandem Strength & Balance Can Help
At Tandem Strength & Balance®, we help older adults address the underlying factors that make everyday movements, including getting out of a chair, difficult.
Rather than simply practicing the act of standing, TandemSB focuses on building the functional leg strength needed to lift the body and make daily movements easier. Each person’s program is tailored to their abilities and needs.
Because TandemSB provides in-home physical therapy, exercises can be designed around the movements and challenges your parent faces in their own environment, including getting out of their actual chair.
With more than 25 years of experience, TandemSB helps older adults build and maintain the strength needed for standing, walking, and everyday activities.
The goal is to help older adults remain as strong and independent as possible.
Get Strong. Stay Strong.
Research Behind the Recommendations
Research helps explain why getting out of a chair can become more difficult with age and how strength, chair height, movement patterns, and fear of falling may contribute.
Strength training and physical function
A Cochrane review of 121 trials involving approximately 6,700 participants found that progressive resistance strength training improved muscle strength and several measures of physical function in older adults. The review also found improvements in chair-rise performance, supporting the importance of building and maintaining strength as we age.
Learn more: Progressive resistance strength training for improving physical function in older adults.
Chair height and standing up
A study comparing younger and older adults found that the force produced during standing and the speed of the movement decreased when participants rose from lower chairs. The findings help explain why a low, soft sofa can be harder to get out of than a firm, appropriately elevated chair.
Learn more: Effects of chair height on sit-to-stand performance.
Changes in movement with age
A 2023 systematic review of 17 studies found that older adults generally took longer to stand from a chair and showed differences in trunk movement, muscle coordination, and other aspects of movement compared with younger adults. These changes can make this everyday activity more challenging.
Learn more: Systematic review of sit-to-stand movement in older adults.
Fear of falling and everyday movement
A study of adults ages 75-85 examined relationships among everyday sit-to-stand movements, lower-extremity performance, fear of falling, and difficulty climbing stairs. The findings highlight the value of considering both physical ability and confidence when an older adult struggles to stand.
Learn more: Sit-to-stand performance, physical function, and fear of falling.