Wheelchairs bring freedom to thousands, but they can also challenge the very freedoms they offer. You don’t have to be a ‘stuck at home’ statistic. Discover 5 secrets to gaining your freedom and mobility outside the home without cumbersome and difficult manual transfers from your wheelchair to your car. Realize for yourself the joy of shopping, eating out or vacationing once again! Before you begin, always lock your chair and separate all moving parts, i.e. footrests, accessories, trays, etc. Follow the next 5 steps to achieve freedom of mobility!
Secret #1 Keep seating surfaces equal in height. Impossible? It is much easier to slide from surfaces that are a uniform height. Don’t try to move from a lower surface to a higher one, and if you’re moving from higher to lower, make sure it’s not dangerously lower!
Secret #2 Do you remember friction in physics? Transfers are all about minimizing friction! Make sure the surfaces from which you slide and two do not increase friction. For example, on a hot day, sweaty bare skin on leather will stop the transfer dead in its tracks. Low-lint material provides less friction, making sliding much easier.
Secret #3 To increase legroom in smaller cars, slide the car seat all the way back AND down (for legs that don’t bend as much as necessary or total hip replacements that must follow a 90-degree precaution).
Secret #4 The steering wheel is a sturdy “grab bar” when you’re on the move.
Secret #5 For the caregiver, once the patient is in the car, walk to the driver’s side, crawl inside. He will pull and assist his patient from this angle instead of trying to push him from the passenger side. Pulling overcomes friction problems more easily than pushing. After safely and efficiently getting the patient to the car, open the trunk to transport the wheelchair. First block the wheels of the wheelchair. Those big wheels are hard NOT to grab, so when you do, you don’t want the rest of the unit to roll over and hurt you.
With the wheels locked and the chair folded, tilt it up on your legs just enough to clear the trunk sill and slide it inside. This uses the pivoting rocker leverage of your legs instead of trying to deadlift the meat. To remove the chair, reverse that order! This makes it much easier to get that seat in and out of the car. And that means you just might have more inspiration to get out more!