Floor Bed for Elderly

The difference between a floor bed for elderly users and a low platform bed is powered movement. A floor bed lowers to a few inches off the floor and rises again for a caregiver. A platform bed is furniture, fixed at one low height. The beds on this page lower to between 2.7 and 9 inches and lift to between 20 and 31.5 inches. Most also tilt the whole deck (Trendelenburg and reverse Trendelenburg), the same functions you find across our hospital beds.

For someone at high risk of falling, the bed should go as low as the frame allows at night, so a roll-out is a short drop rather than a fall from standard bed height. The lowest beds here sit under 4 inches at the deck: the Prius Descend at 2.7 inches, the Accora FloorBed at 2.8, the Med-Mizer AllCare at 3.6, and the Accora Empresa at 3.9. Other beds on the page sit between 4 and 9 inches at their lowest, which still shortens the drop meaningfully compared with a standard bed. For most of these beds, these are deck heights measured without a mattress, so the sleep surface sits higher by the mattress thickness.

A floor bed raises to a higher height so a caregiver can help with transfers, linen changes, and bathing without stooping. That lift is the same hi-low function as our hi-low beds, with a lower floor position at the bottom of the range.

A more expensive floor bed usually gives you a lower floor position, a wider or expandable frame, or a higher weight capacity than an entry model. The Joerns EasyCare, the entry-level option here, lowers to 7 inches on a fixed 35-inch frame and holds 600 pounds. A top-of-the-range bed, like the Med-Mizer ComfortWide EX8000, drops no lower but widens to 48 inches and holds 800 pounds. The lowest beds on the page, including the Accora FloorBed at 2.8 inches, prioritize floor height over frame width.

No, floor beds for elderly people are not proven to prevent fall injuries, though they shorten the distance a person falls if they roll out of bed. A Cochrane review of bed-injury prevention found one randomized trial of low-height beds, conducted in 18 hospital wards with more than 22,000 patients, and it showed no significant reduction in falls or fall injuries, though fewer than half the patients received a low bed. The trial was in hospitals, not homes, so how floor beds perform in home care remains unclear.

Some older adults, especially those with strength or mobility limits, cannot get up from a super-low floor bed without help when it is at its lowest setting. In a small study of 12 older adults, half could not rise from a low bed unassisted. Raising the deck with the handset before the person stands can make getting up easier, which is why every bed here lifts as well as lowers.

Consider a floor mat and, in some cases, side rails. A mat is worth adding for most users: the bed shortens the drop, the mat softens the landing, and a 10-inch mat sits roughly level with the sleep surface on the lowest-deck beds. Rails are optional and carry a risk of entrapment, but several beds on this page, including the Med-Mizer AllCare AC-N and the ComfortWide EX8000, accept them for people who need something to hold when turning or sitting up.

A mattress for a super low floor bed needs to be thin, usually 6 inches, so the sleep surface stays close to the deck. The Accora 600 is the 6-inch mattress Accora builds for the FloorBed, and the foam Mattresses collection carries other thin options. If your frame expands in width, match the mattress to the width you set. The Nitrocare Miranda 7410 and 7410C include a mattress, so you don't need to choose one separately.

A floor bed can be a good fit for someone who still gets up and walks at night, as long as they can rise from the low setting on their own. A mat beside the bed can also become a trip hazard once the person is on their feet. A separate bed-exit alarm can be added to alert a caregiver when the person leaves the bed, so someone can help. If a person can still get in and out safely on their own, our adjustable beds for seniors at standard height may suit them better.