All About Wheelchairs

 A wheelchair is used to assist people with mobility. It is primarily used by people who are differently-abled, who have an injury, age-related issues, or people who have difficulty walking due to illness. Wheelchairs are recommended for people who have spinal cord injuries (paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), broken legs due to accidents, cerebral palsy, brain injury, osteogenesis, motor neuron diseases, and many more.

Wheelchairs come in a variety of formats to meet the specific needs of their users. They may include specialized seating adaptations with individual control and are specific to particular activities. The most widely recognized forms of wheelchairs are motorized and non-motorized wheelchairs. The motorized wheelchairs are propelled with batteries and electric motors and manual wheelchairs are propelled using a propulsive force either by a wheelchair user or an attendant.

History

One of the earliest records of the wheelchair was found in an inscription found in China. The inscription was found in a stone slate where a child’s bed was depicted in a frieze on a Greek vase. It is probably dated around 5-6th century BC and the first records of wheeled seats being used to transport people for transporting disabled people were dated three centuries later.

The Chinese used the wheelchair to transport both wheels and carriable items and this was not differentiated for many years until 525 CE when the Chinese differentiated the use of wheelchairs between carriage of people and heavy objects.

Europeans had also developed wheelchairs with similar designs and were used, however, this method of transportation was not developed until 1595. An unknown inventor from Spain had invented a modern type of wheelchairs with a leg rest and armrest. This design had some shortcomings as it did not have an efficient propulsion mechanism and this, it required additional assistance to propel it.

In the year 1655, a 22-year-old German paraplegic watchmaker built the world’s first self-propelled chair which had a system of three-wheel chassis and a series of cranks and cogwheels. This device had an appearance of a hand-bike more than the wheelchair where the hand-cranks were included to the front wheel.

Modern Wheelchairs were introduced in the year 1933 where Harry C Jennings, Sr and a friend of him Herbert Everest where both were mechanical engineers invented the first light-weight, steel, and foldable wheelchairs Everest and Jennings saw a probable business potential of this invention and they went on to become the first mass-market manufacturers of the wheelchair.

Types of Wheelchairs.

Active Wheelchairs

Active wheelchairs enable differently-abled people to be more active. These types of wheelchairs make it easier for users where it helps to keep posture better and helps them to travel easier during their busy schedule.

Transit Wheelchairs

Transit wheelchairs are helpful for elderly or disabled people where it helps for easy access to get transferred from one point to another. These chairs normally require an attender to propel and hence these wheelchairs do not have large rear wheels compared to other types of wheelchairs.

Sports Wheelchairs

Sports wheelchairs come in different shape and sizes and almost all are manually powered. These wheelchairs are specifically designed for various sporting events such as basketball, tennis, and racing and helps athletes in competitive games.

Pediatric Wheelchairs

Pediatric Wheelchairs are specifically designed for children. These are designed to accommodate specific mobility disorder that the child is facing and help them to be independent with the assistance of wheelchair assistive technology.

Power wheelchairs

Power wheelchairs are electric, battery-operated wheelchairs that can be propelled by the user without any requirement of an attendee. These wheelchairs are a bit heavy as they require a battery and motor for mobility.

Semi-Active Wheelchairs

Semi-Active Wheelchairs are specifically designed for short-term wheelchair users. They can be propelled manually or with assistance. These are designed to accommodate people who suffer from disability and require assistance during mobility.

Thus, it is important for a wheelchair user to check which type of wheelchair is needed for their work purpose and also check from wheelchair experts who have knowledge on issues that a differently-abled people face and can guide you the right wheelchair based on the requirements.

At Rehamo, our In-house wheelchair expert has years of experience and we can guide you to in choosing the right wheelchair based on the requirement.

You can contact us by visiting the link.