Long sitting is where the legs are extended straight in front of the body while in a sitting position. The reason why I included it in this glossary is because you may hear a clinician or health care professional refer to it when talking about bed mobility.
Many caregivers and recipients frequently try to get into the long sitting position when they are trying to get out of bed. However, they don’t realize that this position is difficult for the elderly to get into and it’s also a lot of work on the caregivers.
While you may be too young to remember, this was the way “sit-ups” were done before the more ergonomical “crunch” technique was developed. In addition, variations of long sitting are also used by athletes to stretch the hamstrings muscles when preparing for events. Taken together, to get into this position seniors would need strong abdominals and also fairly long hamstings. Both of which are pretty unlikely.
I have addressed a better way to get into and out of bed here.