A Handy Guide to Manual and Electric Recliner Mechanisms

Following on from our previous blog posts on “choosing the correct seating for the elderly” and a guide to choosing the right recliner chair - “electric recliner chairs vs manual recliner chairs”, this blog post will explain the difference in the mechanics of a manual recliner versus an electric recliner to help you get the most out of your chosen seating.  

Choosing the correct seating for your elderly residents within a care and nursing setting, or patients within a hospital environment is vital to ensure their well-being from being in the correct ergonomic seating position, comfort, and ability to get in and out of a chair or carry out everyday activities, such as watching their favourite show, filling out a crossword puzzle, eating a meal, and so on.

A reclining chair is a great choice of seating as the mechanics of this motion furniture allow you to position the chair however you like, enabling you to adjust the leg rest, backrest, or tilt in space to achieve your desired seating position.

But what is the difference in mechanics between an electric and manual recliner?

Electronic Recliner Chair

Electronic recliner chairs work from an electric motorised system controlled by a handset. You can choose between one to three motors, depending on how much movement you require. An electronic recliner chair with three motors will be able to adjust the leg rest, backrest, and tilt the recliner in space to provide optimum seating positions.

Motor options available on Renray’s electronic recliner chairs include:

An easy two-button control enables the chair to rise and after returning to a seated position the footrest to be raised, followed by the back reclining.

Tilt-in-space holds the user in a fixed position when in recline with the angle of the hip and the back remaining constant. This action is ideal for clients with limited torso control.

The back and footboard operate independently of each other with the benefit of being able to achieve optimum comfort in a seated or reclined position. The 2 motor mechanism also allows the back to recline independently at any point in the recline cycle.

In addition to the one motor tilt in space action above, a second motor allows the user to set the back angle independently at any point in the recline cycle.

All our 3 motor chairs offer independent operation of the back and footboard. A motor is used for three separate functions - 1 motor is for the back, 1 motor for the rise and 1 motor for the footboard. This allows extra lifting capacity on the footboard and for an almost ‘flat’ position.

The corresponding “Renray Guide to Handset Functions for Rise and Recline Chairs” provides details on the functionality of the handsets for each motor option. 

Manual Recliner Chair

Manual recliner chairs can be operated either by a lever mechanism or fully manually by the occupant. Due to the more simplistic manoeuvrability of the manual recliner chair, it offers less reclined seating positions than an electric recliner, typically either a reclined or seated position.

Renray’s manual recliner chairs us a “push/pull” motion to manoeuvre the seating into its reclined position. The manual recliner is adjusted by the user pushing on the armrests while leaning back against the backrest. The occupant then uses their body weight to adjust the shape and extend the footrest.

Reclined seating options available on Renray’s manual recliner chairs include:

The user while seated in the chair should push forward on both arms. The tilt-in-space action holds the user in a fixed position when in recline with the angle of the hip and the back remaining constant.

To recline the push/pull manual recliner the user, while seated in the chair, should push forward on both arms and the footboard will rise to a horizontal “TV” position and by leaning on the back the chair will recline. With the user taking the weight off, the back will rise and by pushing on the footboard the chair will return to a seated position.

For more details on the various mechanisms of our recliner chairs and further information on the lifting options available, download your copy of the Renray Mechanism Guide for Recliner Chairs.

At Renray Healthcare we supply and manufacture many recliner chairs in both manual and electric configurations, so whichever style you choose there will be a quality recliner chair to suit your needs. Please view our range of manual and electric recliner chairs, alternatively please call us 01606 593 456 or email us at info@renrayhealthcare.com and we’ll be happy to help you with any questions you might have.