Customizing a wheelchair to fit your specific needs is key. You may want to raise your footplate. You may want a different cushion. You may want a higher or lower seat-back. Don’t be afraid to change up the dimensions of your wheelchair. If you don’t like how it feels you can always change it back, but you’ll never know whats “perfect” for you unless you experiment.
Read more ...A central theme for conversation seems to be independence. What level am I. What I can and can’t do independently. How people walking around perceive me. Most people in wheelchairs are constantly striving to be more and more independent throughout their daily lives.
Read more ...While visiting New York City this past winter I realized that Manhattan is a perfect urban environment for wheelchair exercise, and I video taped a couple miles of terrain from my TiLite TR’s perspective.
Read more ...More often than not I see people disabled in manual wheelchairs who have their wheelchair measurements set-up all wrong. Sometimes their wheelchair is much too wide for their body structure. Sometimes they don’t have the back axle centered correctly for optimal balance given their size, weight, and disability level. Or, sometimes they could simply be in a more active type/style of custom manual wheelchair. Of all the wheelchair measurement mistakes I see, there is one that absolutely stands out the most. It bothers me to no end seeing a wheelchair’s back wheels higher than waist-level of the person sitting in it. What these people don’t understand is the higher those back wheels go the higher they’ll have to reach with each push. Also, the higher you reach to grab the wheel rail the more your triceps will be stretched, making each push more difficult.
I suggest you keep the highest point of your back wheels within 2 inches of your waist-line for optimal pushing efficiency.
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