My son needs a new wheelchair. The one he brought from his foster home feels like it is going to just collapse in a heap at any moment. The brakes constantly need adjusting – it shimmies and shakes – the arm pads are way too close to the wheels – and I worry about my son tipping it over.
My son’s physical therapist has suggested a ‘sports wheelchair’. That sounds like something my son would like because it looks cool and it can go fast – two very important things to a 15 year old! But I have absolutely no experience with that type of chair.
Can they still be used for school bus transport?
The wheels sort of slant out. Will that make moving through a store or crowd harder?
The backs on all the ones I have seen on the Internet look really low. Are they really comfortable for someone who is in his chair 90% of the day?
Do you think my son’s school would have an issue with a sports chair versus a regular chair?
Are there any other things I should be concerned about, or questions I should ask either the wheelchair company or the physical therapist?
If any of you have a child in such a chair, or have done research and decided against a sports chair, I would love to hear your opinions. We’re meeting with the wheelchair folks this week, and I don’t want to make the wrong decision.
Deborah can be found writing here at 5MFSN every Wednesday, and can also be found at Pipecleaner Dreams.
My child does not use a sports wheelchair, however, she did have a ‘wheelie stander’ that had the slightly slanted wheels. They did not add any appreciable difference to the width of the equipment, but were fantastic for moving in a tight circle – she loved to swivel herself around. I am sure that a higher back insert could be managed; I guess it would depend on how much upper body strength he has. I wish you all the best in obtaining a chair that meets his needs; When a child has to use a w/chair for all or most of their mobility, it is important to get it ‘right’. Good luck.
I am a paraplegic who uses a rigid frame wheelcahir (aka sports chair). The slanted wheels, know a camber, aid in ease of pushing the chair. These chairs are customized to each individual user and the most common camber on an everyday chair is 4 degrees or less. The back height again is what the user needs. A good website to check out these w/chairs is http://www.spinlife.com (this is an online store, but can serve a resource to let you see what is available) choose manual chairs and then ultra light weight chairs. (Sport chairs on this site are hand cycles, race chairs, basketball chairs and tennis chairs. Not what you want or need.) Check out the Quickie revolution and the Quickie GT. Click on customize to get an idea of just how these chairs can be customized. The revolution is unique in that you can colapse the chair if you need to fold it but it has a rigid frame. The GT does not colapse. Both chairs would be allowed on the school bus. The advantage of a rigid chair is a much smoother ride. The GT can also be equipted with a shock absorbing rear supension. Both chairs are covered by medicare and medicaid. Hope this helps. Feel free to email me at rollinalong59@gmail.com if you have further questions. It can all be very overwhelming. 9
My son does use a wheelchair full time and he has both a sports chair and a manual chair. The sports chair is significantly wider and does not fit through most door ways. It is fast and fun to use and turns very easily. My son uses it in the gym at school and for outside or on courts but not much inside because of the width. They do make a chair that can be cambered out for stability and used for speed and fast turns and cambered back in for inside. We had one of thise by ti-lite before we replaced his chair and then got a sports chair.