Anybody who has ever done a market survey on wheelchairs would know that wheelchairs come in various shapes and sizes and can range from $5000 to $30,000. As an allied health professional, my endeavor here would be to make your job of choosing a wheelchair simplified to an extent.
Two things to be kept in mind before you set out for purchase of a wheelchair are
1. The level of assistance you would be requiring.
2. The places where you would be using it.
Your condition determines the type of wheelchair you would require. A person with tetra-plegia would require an electric wheelchair with a joystick to drive it around. However, people with good strength in their upper arm muscles can go in for a manual wheelchair. Why a manual wheelchair can be a better option than the electric one is because it costs significantly lesser and is much lighter (4lbs. to 30 lbs.) as compared to its powered counterpart (250 lbs.).
It is important to give a thought to whether your wheelchair is for inside or outside use or for both or whether you are planning to do a lot of traveling with it. It is best to get a wheelchair that can go past the narrowest door frames and passages at home or at work place. Accessibility is the key word. You would not want a frustrating situation where size constraints make it impossible to turn it left or right.
I give a lot of importance to the size and weight of a wheelchair. After all, those are the two factors that determine maneuverability and thus your freedom. A lightweight chair, say around 25 to 35 lbs, is easier to fit into a car trunk. Also, they are easy to fold and carry when you are traveling. Motorized wheelchairs cannot be folded.
This brings me to the next criterion which is the dimensions of your wheelchair. Seat width and the height of the back support are two major things that need to be decided. The Seat width is measured as the width of the backside when sitting down. The seat depth is measured as the measure of the back of the buttock to the inside of the knee. The back support height is measured as the length of the top of the shoulder to your bottom.
Add 8 inches to the seat width and that should be the overall width of your wheelchair. Transport wheelchairs are much narrower as their overall width is only 3 inches more than your seat width.
Anti tips, seat belts, and brake extensions can make your wheelchair much safer for use. Cushions and back supports help in positioning a person more comfortably in a wheelchair. Also, head control, trunk control, and upper extremity strength are major determinants of the height and the type of back support you would be requiring. Your physical therapist can be of great assistance in customizing your wheelchair.
I hope that you are better informed about wheelchairs and what to look out for while buying one. An informed customer is the smart customer.
While buying a transport wheelchair, it is best to buy from a website where the features of the product are clearly listed. ojmedical.com is one such site which gives in depth specifications of each wheelchair.
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