Wheechairs

[westernind]

Does anyone know about wheelchairs? My mother has asked me to find out prices for 'a bog standard non motorised wheelchair'. The situation is that having lost a huge amount of weight rapidly through undiagnosed diabetes, muscle wastage means that her legs sometimes collapse beneath her without warning and she falls and hurts herself. Although physio makes things a bit better, she wants a wheelchair because she doesn't feel safe. Her arms are also not strong enough for sticks.

Finding out the basics isn't so hard, a google search brings up the Help the Aged site and Wheelchairs-R-Us(!). What I'd like to know is what makes a good wheelchair? Any review sites? She'd be pushed rather than propelling herself. In the meantime, Venice in four weeks' time arrrgggh. Finding a chair that can cope better with cobbles would be good. bigger wheels? But lightweight and transportable also necessary.

PS
Do not go on crash diets, kiddies. :-(

Comments

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm here from idly looking at my friendsfriends view ;-) I needed to use a wheelchair for about five years due to chronic joint pain, and used a number of different types in different situations - I could talk for hours about pros and cons, but I have no recent experience with suppliers (5-10 years ago they all seemed much of a muchness).

What I'd like to know is what makes a good wheelchair?
That very much depends on how she wants to use it. I would recommend she tries a few models (through shopmobility, or at a wheelchair showroom) and see how she gets on with them. Key decisions are:
Electric/self-propelled (with those big back wheels)/manual (someone else pushing).
Comfortable to sit in (most chairs are a similar size so there is not a lot of flexibility in this - but it does mean a standard chair will fit through a standard door). You can always add cushions for support and comfort.
Try it on an outside surface - lino is easy and smooth to travel on, streets can be bumpy and have camber which throws off the steering, plush carpet or gravel can grind you to a halt. Which of these surfaces it it necessary to use the chair on?
Try a kerb or step - even a dropped kerb can be difficult to get up if it's not completely flush with the road.
There are knacks to getting up kerbs and through doors smoothly - I had so much pain and trouble from people who assumed you just ram the chair at the kerb and it will roll up, or that you can open a door by ramming the chair at it. Many times it is easier to reverse the chair and bring it up backwards. A level geometry will tell you that you cannot roll a wheel over a bump which is as high as its axle.

Some places hire wheelchairs for a week at a time - this is what I did when I first needed to use a wheelchair for getting round a science fiction convention (at home I could potter by myself without a chair), and the learning curve, while steep, was very valuable. I discovered how difficult small steps and kerbs are, and how if I bought a pint I couldn't leave the bar until I'd drunk down half of it!
I eventually bought a self-propelled chair, which is sitting gathering dust in the garage, and I'd be happy to lend it to your mother if that would help. I really have no need for it any more, but can't bear to take it to the dump. I was very pleased with how lightweight it is (15kg), and it folds down to the size of a suitcase.

prices for 'a bog standard non motorised wheelchair'.
In 1995 it cost £50 to hire a manual, self-propelling chair for a week, and in 1997 I bought one for £150. Reconditioned is cheaper than new, and there are often bargains to be had on eBay for sadly "hardly used" chairs. The mechanical complexity is similar to a bicycle, but they do not have the economies of scale of bicycle manufacture.

she wants a wheelchair because she doesn't feel safe.
They can help a lot with that (speaking as someone who was extremely fragile and could not be bumped by people in the street). People in general move more carefully round a chair than they do round people with sticks. Do be aware in crowds that people behind the pusher will see the pusher and what appears to be a space in front of them - they try to nip round you into the "space" and trip into the chair.