The motorized or electric wheelchair: Another key option for getting around in one’s own community.

Last time, I began looking at two distinct forms of personal motorized transportation for mobility challenged individuals in the community: motorized wheelchairs and medical mobility scooters.  We started by taking a look at the mobility scooter, this time it is the electric wheelchair’s turn in the spotlight. As I have acknowledged earlier, I have been working in the community care sector over the past ten years and one aspect of this fact that has more recently been dawning on me is the reality that I have if truth be told had my recognition stretched with regards to a lot of of the assorted fine points of wheelchairs, both manual and electric or motorized. Whether it has been working with separate clients, assisting them with some of their more plain wheelchair upkeep or talking about chairs with sundry maintenance and repair technicians, i have come to realize a thing or two and obtain a superior understanding of how this kind of mobility device enables individuals in their own homes and out and about in the community.

Therefore what are some of the things that I have learned?

For starters, previous to starting my work I would never have known that nearly all electric wheelchairs utilize either a series of gears or a series of belts or sometimes even both. I had not heard of the name “power chair” before my employment either, but now I know that the name refers to nearly all categories of power-driven wheel chair. My clients with power wheel chairs with belt drives seem to usually have had very quiet chairs, but have often required more maintenance on them. The chairs that had gear drives were fairly quiet and lower-maintenance largely, but they tend to deteriorate more abruptly then belt drives, and seemed to become noisier in the process.

Different chairs certainly seem to contrast in their resilience: several of my clients have really put their chairs through the wringer but the chairs have kept on chuging along (with the apposite t l c when required), while others have found their chairs’ operation worsening over time even with limited and more or less light use. The strength of the chair’s frame seems to be a key factor in determining the toughness of the chair and where it should be used; lighter frames are usually more well-matched for chiefly indoor use. The lighter design of wheelchair casing can more easily crack and the front forks of the frame can unwillingly bend. Moreover, it has seemed that electric wheelchair motors die out a good deal faster when they are used excessively in an outdoor environment. The chairs that consist of a heavier model of framework appear to be much more sturdy and reliable, and those frames are designed to deal with more weight. A number of of the newer motorized wheel chairs my clients have owned even incorporate a type of spring suspension which provides the occupant with a much smoother ride over more bumpy ground, which is good for those who have had more significant neck injuries to contend with. (comfort in the chair while in operation being an issue here for some)

The individuals I work with appear to customarily have had three choices when it comes to the functioning of their chairs: front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, and a mid-wheel drive. The front-wheel drive electric wheelchair has become more customary with many of the folks in my community because it offers a tighter turning function, but I have been led to believe that this is the predominant choice these days in most regions. Most of the front-wheel drive wheelchairs have a slightly lower top ( maximum ) speed than their rear-wheel counterparts because they are known to turn too easily at higher speeds. The rear-wheel drive motorized wheel chair is almost certainly the more customary and most popular style of chair – at least from what I have heard over time. It seems to be faster then a front-wheel model but gives less impressive turning in comparison to the front-wheel and mid-wheel chairs. I have known a couple of individuals who have had experience with the mid-wheel drive wheelchair and they have seemed to feel that the mid wheel drive provides the tightest turning of all. Still their chairs had a inclination to be to some extent shaky when stopping and starting. The mid-wheel drive has caster wheels in the rear and an extra set of anti-tip wheels in the front. This set up of wheels limits their use on more uneven surfaces.

Anything else?

Well a further element that most motorized wheelchairs have incorporated (at least in my experience) is either a power tilt feature or a power recline; the power tilt allows the chair’s user to tilt the entire seat assembly of the chair (including the footrest) back about 45 degrees, while the power recline allows the seat to recline right back and the footrest assembly to raise up horizontally, allowing for a much more horizontal surface. Both of these features are an useful means of allowing the chair’s user to relieve the pressure they would feel after sitting in their chair for any prolonged length of time. (pressure to the lower regions – ie. the buttocks or even the feet is a key factor in the development of some types of pressure sores in disabled people)