If you have a manual recliner and the seat cushion gets 'trapped' by the footrest when you sit the chair upright from the recline position, here's why that is occurring and how to prevent that. When you close the footrest, lift your thighs up a little to take the pressure off the cushion. You close the recliner by kicking down on the footrest with your heels, not using your thighs as leverage points. Its the back of your legs compressing the seat cushion and forcing it into the footrest top thereby creating the 'trap'. Men, especially big men, tend to do this much more than women.