Getting in and out of bed

For more information, visit the Parkinson’s UK website (last updated July 2026).

If your Parkinson’s make it difficult to get in and out of bed, there’s a range of equipment available to help.

• Satin sheets: can help you to turn over in bed
• Bedside grab rails: you can use these to adjust your position in bed, help yourself out of bed and lower yourself into bed independently
• Bed raisers: are used to lift your bed a few inches, making it easier to get in and out of it
• Mattress raisers: can help lift you up into a seated position, making it easier for you to get out of bed.
• Electric profiling or hospital beds: allow you to raise and lower the mattress where your head and knees are. They can help you sit up from lying down. Some people find it also reduces dizziness and ankle swelling.
• Hoists: can lift you between your bed and wheelchair, or your bed and a commode
• Over-bed trapezes and rope ladders: can be hung over the bed above the head. These allow a person to pull themselves up from a lying to a sitting position