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Hello, I just found out about this product I think might be helpful for our family but am having a hard time finding a US seller. Does anyone know? It’s called “stairsteady” and it’s a handrail with sliding bar that flips down in front of the person so they can hold onto it using both hands while walking up and down stairs, and which locks into place when the person applies pressure to pull themselves up on each step. It was invented in the UK and there might also be a Canadian manufacturer. Hoping someone has some seller info on this.

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Stairsteady is mentioned on web sites all over the internet. Simply type in the name. There are also youtube videos. I found it easy to find typing the name into the search bar.
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GinnyK Oct 30, 2024
Thank you. I’ve looked and seen a lot of websites mentioning it but none of them actually sell it or have links to a seller. It does seem to require professional installation by the dealers, if it’s even being offered in the States. I might be overlooking something obvious but in case someone happens to know firsthand where you can contact the dealers I thought I’d ask.
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I unfortunately do not have an answer. I read about this product fairly recently, I think. My guess is it may not be approved for use in the U.S. Having had a regular stair glide myself, I think this product will have minimal use. You have to use both hands: even if you physically can do this, it means you can't carry anything with you, nor can you send things up and down the stairs, which I did with my regular stair glide. If you have a straight staircase; i.e., no turns, you can often purchase a used stair glide quite inexpensively. Also, a stair glide ordered by a doctor is deductible as a medical expense; right now, the stairsteady would not qualify. Frankly, I think no doctor would prescribe it if it were available, A person needing stair assistance is VERY unlikely to be able to put pressure on the rails for very long AND be able to stand securely for the time it would take to get up or down the staircase.
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GinnyK Oct 30, 2024
Well you may be right. My mom turns sideways and uses both her hands “zipper-fashion” as she says, sliding them up the handrail each in turn as she takes the steps slowly one at a time, sideways. She can’t carry anything with her and gets my dad to transfer things up and down for her.
I’m not sure I understand what your complaint about stairsteady is. I guess it might not work for everyone but I feel I don’t know enough yet to say whether it might work for my mom. My initial concern would be about the transition point when she reaches the top, her balance may be too far gone for that already. She’d probably need another grab bar or something to steady herself there before she is able to move past the top step and lift the pull bar up out of the way. I’m just trying to look at options for her. I’ll consider the stair glide, that would be good if it were not too expensive, but, my sister thinks it takes up a lot of room and would get in my dad’s way on the stairs since he takes the stairs too. I’m just not sure. I’d like to know more about both options and I’m having a hard time finding specific contact information or reviews about the stairsteady although I know it won the inventor some awards in England.
If anyone has actual experience with this kind of device would love to hear about it. Thanks for your feedback.
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It is worth the investment to purchase a good stairlift for your mother. Needs change. Maybe this stair rail is good for now but mobility can change very quickly.

My parents relied on their two stairlifts to get around their three floor house for ten years. Without them they never could have stayed in their home as long as they did.
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GinnyK Oct 30, 2024
Wow, three story house for ten years!! That’s awesome.

Mobility can change very quickly…yes that seems true. My mom has tried a stair lift a couple times at other people’s homes and says she’s not ready for one yet. I guess we’ll wait till she’s more ready. There seem to be some offered on eBay and Craigslist but most are local pickup only for obvious reasons I guess, so we’ll just hope there’s one for sale nearby at the right time for us. Thanks for your feedback.
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I looked at the stairsteady and have looked at other ways to help with our stairs for myself aged 77. You can always import. Being in Oz we often find ourselves needing to import, it’s not that hard, and a decent builder should be able to install it. My guess would be that it may meet your mother’s needs for a relatively short time, and might be an expensive option for the time it would work. (I’m assuming it’s for your mother or perhaps GM) On the other hand, if it postpones full price institutional care for two years or more, it may be worth it at twice the price.

Our own decisions are that I hang on to the handrails on each side of our fairly narrow stairs, carrying anything difficult in a cloth bag over my shoulder. It’s good exercise if you can do it. If you only have a hand rail on one side, it might help to fit one to the other side.

We have put a scissor lift outside, currently used mostly for furniture installation following our house move, but eventually usable (and actually intended) for me. For personal access it needs to get the entry level adjusted (we need to dig a pit to put the base into). That was $12,000, compared with my disabled sister’s internal lift of $75,000.

Try to get an idea about the time frame for your mother’s current state of mobility, before you spend a lot of money on the current stage. Think about what will happen in the next stage of ageing, and also on the impact of property value if it involves dry wall attachment.

Good luck! You have my sympathy about looking at a blurb that sounds quite good, but not being able to see the real thing. Yours, Margaret
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GinnyK Oct 30, 2024
You’re right, going up and down steps is good exercise if you can manage it! Exercise is important for the elderly as it is for all of us.
I just spoke with my mom and she says she’s not ready for a stair glide yet. She says she’s staying very careful with her approach to the stairs.
Good point about considering likely time frames and relative costs. Will do.
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I just looked at this product on-line and it's something I would question. First of all, aging hands do not grip tightly, plus many have a touch of arthritis in their hands. If one cannot open a new jar of pickles, how will they be able to grip the rail in front of them? Just saying. Also, would this work for someone under 5' tall as well as someone over 6' tall? Or would you need two sets of rails on one side?


Plus the risk of falling backwards when trying to slide the bar upwards. Those with knee or hip issues might find this challenging trying to stand on each step, where just walking up the stairs is fine as there is momentum. Here's an idea, walk up/down the stairs but pause on each step and see how comfortable, or not, that is.


For myself, I found having two sets of stair rails on either side works perfectly. We had them at my office and it was great, now I want them at home :)
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It's not available in the USA probably because it's not been approved here. I'd get a stair lift chair on Facebook Marketplace, used, for less money than the Stairsteady would cost you. I see them at estate sales quite often for $300 or so, and there are several available on Marketplace in my area right now too. You'd have to pay someone to have it installed, of course, but it'd be a lot safer!
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GinnyK, a stair glide folds up easily when it is not in use. I had a narrow staircase, and there was still plenty of room for me and others to use the stairs when the stair glide was not in use. If you get one now, your mother will have it ready when she needs it, and she can use it later on. I eventually sold my house to someone who wanted a stair glide for the future, so I didn't have to remove it as I had planned. The technology is quite stable: the model I purchased in 1999 is still manufactured today.

Also, when I purchased it, the orthopedist caring for my knees had told me that if I were to buy a 2-story house, if I didn't get a stair glide, he wouldn't retain me as his patient! At that time, I lived in a 2nd-floor apartment, so I was not having mobility issues, but I was putting stress on my knees. Your mother might find that the stair glide saves a lot of wear-and-tear on her knees, allowing her to stay mobile much longer. Again, she could still walk up and down when she preferred and was comfortable doing so.

There are other uses of a stair glide that the stairsteady does not have. A woman rarely goes up and down the stairs without bringing something with her, such as her purse. With a stair glide, you just keep it in your lap. I wouldn't want to try to have a purse over my arm or shoulder while using a stairsteady. You can also use a stair glide to send large/heavy objects up or down the stairs, using the remote that comes with it. Of course, if you are alone, you would then need to walk up or down the stairs to retrieve the object, but you wouldn't have to try to carry it up or down. This may seem like a trivial point, but I did this quite frequently.

Companies that sell stair glides often sell home elevators too, so you could look for stair elevators if you are not having luck finding a localstair glide distributor. Two major (national) distributors in the U.S. are Bruno and Acorn; I had a Bruno. I didn't check, but you could probably find local distributors through their websites. I purchased mine so long ago that I found the distributors in the Yellow Pages!

Finally, I would suggest again that the stairsteady may not ever be approved for use in the U.S. Since your mother is not yet in the market, you can wait to see, but it just seems too risky to me to be a good idea! I'd also mention again that a stair glide, if recommended by a physician (doesn't have to be in writing), is deductible as a medical expense, and I timed my purchase to be able to deduct it, which helped reduce the expense. A home elevator, by the way, is considered a capital improvement and can be added to the cost basis of one's house rather than being deducted as a medical expense.
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