Wheelchairs

Standard Wheelchairs

These provide a great option when having to travel and there’s no room for a powered wheelchair or scooter in the vehicle. Most are lightweight and all are strong, with different carrying capacities available. They normally have swing-aside footrests, fixed armrests and braked wheels. Ideal for that day by the seaside when the car’s full! They are also an ideal and inexpensive choice if temporary mobility problems are encountered - a twisted or broken ankle, perhaps.

Another reason for using a standard wheelchair is if you’re tight on space in the home - they’re not too much smaller than an electrically-powered chair but sometimes that little bit can make a lot of difference!

Below are a few different types in what is a vast range available today.

Standard wheelchairs can be split into two categories - transit and self-propelled. The transit type generally have smaller wheels and are not intended to be moved by the person sat in them - they’re essentially a grown-up pushchair. Ideal for people who have someone to do the pushing for them but otherwise limiting as to mobility.

The other type of wheelchair, the self-propelled, is as its name suggests designed to be moved by the person sat in it. This type features much larger rear wheels with stand-off tubular rims that give the sitter purchase in order to be able to turn the wheel without having to touch the tyre, thus avoiding the transfer of ground soilage to their hands. This is the type of chair commonly used by people with lower body mobility problems or paraplegia. Both models feature footrest and are usually collapsible for transportation.

Powered Wheelchairs

Powered wheelchairs come in a wide range of designs, power rating and carrying capacities and can be tailored to virtually any degree of restriction of user mobility. They come in dedicated indoor or outdoor designs, or dual-role types suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. Battery size and power play an important role as to the usable range of this type of wheelchair and this factor should be checked out before deciding which type is right for you. Featured right is a lightweight powered chair.

Other designs are more rugged, as seen in the example shown to the left. However, nearly all powered wheelchairs differ from electric scooters in one important way: they are controlled by a single ‘joystick’ unit rather than the handlebar arrangement usual on scooters. Powered wheelchairs are normally also used by people whose mobility difficulties are chronic or more severe than those found in people who make use of scooters. For this reason powered wheelchairs are carefully designed to give support and comfort to the user who may well sit in the wheelchair for most of their waking hours.

Some power wheelchairs also head- and leg-rests for even greater user comfort, as seen in the illustration to the right. Whilst all three are recognisable as what is traditionally thought of as a ‘wheelchair’, other types are available that are more like armchairs on wheels to look at. Also, the three models hers shown are all rear-wheel drive - again, other types, often called ‘power chairs’, are front or even mid-wheel drive.

Mid-wheel drive power chairs, as seen in the image to the left, are probably the most manoeuvrable of all of this type of chair and can turn in their own length. The one drawback is stability - they are slightly less stable thn other types and care should be exercised over rougher terrain. Having said that, they cope with everyday surface admirably.

It can be seen from this short article that there are many variants on the simple wheelchair available, all designed to increase mobility, not only for those less able to get about easily but also for people with severe mobility problems. We hope that this has given some small insight into the huge range available to users in today’s market.

Lightweight wheelchairs

Ultralightweight chairs

Standard wheelchairs

H-duty wheelchairs

Reclining back chairs

Powered folding chairs

Travel power wheelchairs

Power base wheelchairs

H-duty powered chairs