For most people, electric adjustable beds are seen as pieces of medical equipment that aren’t created for personal home use.
However, adjustable beds are available for private individuals to buy use in the comfort of a person’s own home and can offer an elevated level of care when compared to a standard bed.
What is an Electric Adjustable Bed?
Firstly, we should get the definitions correct – electric adjustable beds (not to be confused with profiling beds) are beds that rest on an electronically controlled moving base that can rise and fall as well as contour at the head, middle and foot areas.
This means that an adjustable bed can raise a user’s upper body or lower extremities through movement of the adjustable bed base.
Adjustable Beds or Mobility Beds?
Adjustable beds could also be referred to as mobility beds, because of their increased movement range when compared to a standard bed, electric adjustable beds can help elderly, low mobility, or disabled users maintain confidence and independence at home without necessarily requiring the help of another person.
These height adjustable beds assist a reduced mobility or elderly user with getting in and out of bed and can actually help preserve a person’s mobility over time by making day to day tasks a little easier.
Electric Adjustable Bed vs Electric Profiling Bed?
Adjustable beds and electric profiling beds both rest on height adjustable bed platforms and operate with a ‘rise and fall’ style that can make getting in and out of bed much easier for low mobility to get in and out of bed.
Height adjustable beds can also aid moving and handling tasks and patient transfers if a carer is involved.
However, if you are looking to buy a care bed and would like/require a larger range of movements both to allow for user comfort and easier caring access, then a profiling bed would be a better option.
The sectioned base of a profiling bed offers a wider range of movement options than an electric adjustable bed.
Read our handy guide on profiling beds for all the information you need to know before making the decision to buy a profiling bed.
Who Needs An Electric Adjustable Bed?
Anyone can buy an electric adjustable bed, no existing medical requirement is needed to purchase an adjustable bed.
Since adjustable beds are designed to mould around user’s body, they help improve sleeping posture, comfort while sleeping and
Existing disabilities that require care along with low mobility issues that can develop as a person grows older mean that electric adjustable beds are particularly useful in ensuring personalised comfort.
Below, we look at the features of electric adjustable beds and the benefits they can offer to users with special needs, elderly, or low mobility users.
Double Adjustable Beds:
Electric adjustable beds also come in larger sizes, making them ideal for couples…further making these beds suitable for your bedroom is it currently is.
Double adjustable beds boast all the same benefits and work in the same way as their single counterparts, but with two mattresses instead of one.
These couple friendly beds feature two mattresses that can both be controlled and adjusted individually, meaning that each user can pick their ideal sleeping position for a good night’s sleep.
Controlled with a backlit wireless electric remote, we offer a divan bed that can be supplied as an electric double adjustable bed, it is crafted with premium upholstery ensuring that it will fit into your existing home décor.
Adjustable Beds With ‘No More Snore’ Technology:
Reduce snoring and ensure improved sleep with an adjustable bed featuring an intelligently designed neck tilting platform that opens airways and allows for a good night’s sleep. This same technology also applies to double adjustable beds and can mean one user can take advantage of the ‘no more snore’ technology, allowing both users to have sound sleep.
What About Pressure Injuries?
Electric adjustable beds have a height adjustability and limited head, torso and foot rising and lowering abilities…this is not an ideal or wide enough range of movements to alleviate pressure or care for existing pressure injuries.
The moving adjustable bed base can raise a bed user’s upper body to an upright position or raise lower body and legs by moving the electrically controlled base. The ‘rise and falling’ movement on electrically controlled adjustable beds allows for some increased blood flow and redistributes some pressure from traditional high-pressure points where ulcers/sores are likely to develop if a person spends a prolonged period of time in bed.
However, to allow for proper care of pressure ulcers/sores, it is recommended that a profiling bed is used due to it’s wider range of movements that can aid user circulation as well as make it easier for a carer to provide appropriate wound care to a patient.
Pressure Injury Risk
The risk of pressure injuries can be determined by how much time a user expects to spend in bed, the longer the time a user is likely to be in bed, the higher the chance of developing pressure injuries.
Elderly or disabled users may have reduced mobility, pressure injury risk management becomes important in these instances.
This risk is managed by ensuring that pressure is regularly distributed by moving and turning a low mobility user while in bed. In care environments, this regular movement is done frequently through manual turning and can be intrusive for patients. There is also an increase in moving and handling risk for a carer dealing with a low mobility patient spending long periods of time in bed.
If the bed user is at increased risk of developing pressure injuries as a result of the amount of time they spend in bed, then an electric profiling bed combined with a specialist pressure relieving mattress is a more fitting option for those needs.
These mattresses offer dedicated pressure injury management through castellated foam that ensures pressure doesn’t remain on a particular part of the bed user’s body and reduces the risk of developing an ulcer/sore.
For users at very high risk of developing or exacerbating pressure injuries, an air flow mattress is the ideal option for reducing the effects of skin shear and friction. Read more on the right profiling mattress for you.
Summary:
Adjustable beds can greatly aid with care for disabled, elderly or otherwise low mobility users. From simply acting as a standing aid that helps getting in and out of bed easier, to providing more specialist pressure injury care and management, electric adjustable care beds are an essential piece of home care equipment.
Does A Profiling Bed Better Suit Your Needs?
With recent announcements and a growing interest in care beds for community care, the larger range of movements included in with a profiling bed allow them to be used to care for a larger number of people with more complex conditions.
Our handy guide on hospital beds for your home takes you through all the main features that you should look for before buying a profiling bed.
Purchase An Adjustable Bed From Vivid.Care
At Vivid.Care, we have a range of options available for anyone looking to buy an adjustable bed. Suitable for individual home use or community-based care & nursing.
Buy everything from a 3ft single and 4ft adjustable beds to 5ft and 6ft king size adjustable beds.
If you prefer a more personal touch, visit our mobility shop based in Harrogate, Yorkshire, where our mobility expert can provide you with a hands on demonstration and all the information you need to find the appropriate electric adjustable bed to meet your medical needs at home.
Or you may shop online for express UK wide delivery of electric adjustable beds and profiling beds.
