Medical Benefits – The gentle motion of a rocking chair has traditionally been associated with calm and relaxation ... a pleasant way to spend quiet hours alone or with friends. What works with fussy infants also relaxes tense and agitated adults in long-term care and rehabilitation settings.

It provides the benefits of therapeutic motion without the need to transfer patients from their chairs to another device — reducing the risk of injuries to them and to caregivers.

Physicians, nurses and physical therapists have long recognized the danger that long hours of immobility pose to patients’ health.  Gentle, regular motion reduces or eliminates pressure sores and the danger of hydrostatic pneumonia in those with little mobility, including post-surgical patients and residents of long-term care facilities, as well as anyone whose physical condition permits little or no mobility. Rocking motion may also improve circulation and general well-being. Rocking is a familiar and instinctive way to calm and soothe distressed infants. One ground-breaking study by the nursing faculty of the University of Rochester (New York) in 1998 documented similar benefits in anxious and unhappy older adults.