Task-specific resistance training increased the overall ability and decreased the rise time required to perform a series of bed- and chair-rise tasks. The actual rise-time improvement was clinically small but may be useful over the long term. Future studies might consider adapting this exercise program and the focus on trunk function to a frailer cohort, such as in rehabilitation settings. In these settings, the less challenging rise tasks (such as rising from an elevated chair) and the ability to perform intermediate tasks (such as hip bridging) may become important intermediate rehabilitation goals.

Lowering HOB height and seat height increased bed and chair rise task difficulty, particularly when hand use was restricted. Restricting hand use in low HOB height or lowered seat height conditions may help to identify older adults with declining rise ability. Yet, many of those who could not rise under "without hands" conditions could rise under "with hands" conditions, suggesting that dependency on hand use may be a marker of progressive rise impairment but may not predict day-to-day natural milieu rise performance. Intertask differences in performance time may be statistically significant but are clinically small. Given the relationship between self-reported ADL disability and rise performance, impaired rise performance may be considered a marker for ADL disability. These bed and chair rise tasks can serve as outcomes for an intervention to improve bed and chair rise ability and might also be used in future studies to quantify improvements or declines in function over time, to refine physical therapy protocols, and to examine the effect of bed and chair design modifications on bed and chai