The Fly LegsUp caught my eye a while ago as a way to potentially reduce my pain and swelling whilst taking longer flights. It’s essentially a hammock that you string from the seat in front to allow you to rest your feet a bit higher and find more positions to sit in – including with your legs out straight.

I trialled the Fly LegsUp to see if it was possible to use with limited lower limb mobility.

When I fly I always end up with a lot of pain and severely swollen feet and hoped the Fly LegsUp would help me sit in a more comfortable position, open up more options for ways to sit and help keep my feet elevated. What I was concerned about was that my limited leg mobility would also mean that it was impossible to get my feet in to the sling without hurting myself.

Whilst figuring out how the Fly LegsUp worked, and how best to get my legs up in to the hammock, did take a while, once I figured it out I was able to sit significantly more comfortably than usual for the whole flight. I particularly enjoyed that it allowed me to switch in to many different positions as chronic pains makes sitting in one position for too long uncomfortable. I also noticed that my feet were much less swollen than I would usually expect from a long haul flight.

Leg strength wasn’t an issue for getting in and out of the hammock as it was easy to use my hands to help my legs (or get help from a companion). I did however find that I had bend my knee quite tight to get my foot in initially – although I chose to use the hammock on the highest setting. I also found the valves on the cushions quite hard to open and close so you might need to get help with this too if you have limited hand strength.

My personal tips for getting your legs in the Fly LegsUp are as follows:

1. Get a window seat if possible, that way you won’t have to take your legs out if anyone needs to get up.
2. Keep the tail tucked out of the way, get someone to help pull it under you afterwards if you like.
3. Put the large cushion in but leave the small one out initially – the less you inflate the cushion the easier it’ll be to get your feet in.
4. Use the shin of your more flexible leg, with your foot on the floor, to push the hammock as far forward as possible.
5. Lift your less flexible leg in to the hammock and rest your foot on the edge of it, now using that leg to keep the hammock pushed forwards.
6. Lift your other leg in to the sling.
7. Get comfortable! Slide the smaller cushion in if you need it.

I found that on a short haul flight on a small aircraft there just wasn’t enough space to pull my legs in to the Fly LegsUp but it was actually much easier than I had imagined to use on a bigger airplane. It’s a great way to make flights more comfortable and it packs up so small I’ll be taking it on all my future long haul flights.

You can check it out at https://www.flylegsup.com/