If you suffer from arthritic knees and stairs are nearly impossible to climb without intense pain, you need some solutions to this age-related problem. Thankfully, there are plenty of choices to consider. The following solutions should make things a lot less painful for your knees.

Turn the Den or Study into Your Bedroom

A lot of older people with your particular problem just decide to move their bedrooms to the first floor. It makes things easier all around, especially if you already have an extra room or common area room on the first floor that you can convert into a bedroom. If you also have a full bathroom on the first floor, then you never have to climb stairs and go up there again. However, if you still have to go upstairs to bathe, then you might want to leave your bedroom where it is and purchase an in-home stair lift.

Purchase and Install an In-home Stair Lift

An in-home stair lift will give you greater mobility in your home. They can help you up and down the stairs safely without ever lifting a foot or worrying about stumbling and falling down the stairs. The best one for stiff, arthritic knees is a standing stair lift. You step onto the foot perch at the bottom of the lift and hang onto the guard bars of the lift as it carries you up the stairs. You never have to repeatedly bend your knees to climb stairs again. 

Another type of lift is the chairlift. If you can tolerate sitting in a chair with bent knees, then this lift can help, too. Sit in the chair of the lift, buckle the seat belt, and control the speed of the lift with the armrest controls. If lifts are not going to work with the way your stairs are constructed, consider an elevator. The cost for an elevator and a stair lift are about the same, but an elevator can take you up three floors and even down into the basement.

Home Elevators

Many people would consider a home elevator quite the luxury item. To a certain extent, they are, but when compared to the cost of the most expensive stair lift (a curved stair lift), the price is about the same. The biggest difference is that the home elevator can move much faster between floors, and if your home has a third floor and a basement, the elevator can reach all floors through the same openings in each floor.