Motorized Wheel Chair

What type of power Wheel Chair do you purchase? Do you need a light duty motorized wheelchair or a heavy duty community use power wheel chair? How does one decide what to buy? It depends on several key factors in determining what kind of wheel chair you should buy that will suit your needs, your requirements and you’ll be satisfied with it for a long time.

What kind of battery range do you need? Do you go to work or school? How far is your grocery store? What are your daily activities and what is the terrain you have to cover in these activities? If your activities are light and you don’t need to travel much, a light duty power wheel chair is a good choice. If you are very active in your community, then you will need a motorized wheelchair which has a longer battery range.

If you are outdoors a lot and have to traverse three inch or higher obstacles, you will need a powerful motorized wheelchair due to your needs for increased climbing abilities. If not, a lightweight power chair is the best one to go with.

Do your daily usage requirements dictate the need for a wheel chair that covers rough outdoor terrain and many hills? If this is what you need – go for a high powered motorized wheel chair that has you covered for enhanced terrain capabilities .

What about speed? What about your safety at work, school or other activities in the community? If you have a need for speed from your wheelchair – chose a high power wheel chair.  Being outdoors alot, especially in a big city will require that you cross at intersections and a heavy duty power wheelchair will ensure your safety in the city.  Basically, if you are a high activity user and active in your community, you will need a motorized chair that can withstand the rigors of your everyday life and the demands of your environment. A light duty chair needs only the ability to travel 12 miles, great for indoor use and a little outdoor use. It will have a 2.3 inch climbing ability for relatively flat surfaces. It can travel about 4.5 mph for low activity usage and durability tested for mostly smooth indoor surfaces.  A community use chair needs a 16+ mile range, 3 inches obstacle climbing ability, a 9 inch stability incline for outdoor terrain. The best wheel chair then will be able to reach speeds of 6 miles per hour for outdoor safety and its durability should match the demands of rough terrain travel. These are the key factors you should look for in a motorized wheel chair if you are very active in your community and life.

From time to time, I publish wheel chair news on my blog, not only because it’s interesting and this is a subject that my readers and myself are curious about, but perhaps we are looking for better solutions and new technology when it comes to mobility.  I found this article today by Adam Hartley on TechRadar.com for patients recovering from strokes or spinal injuries – a wheelchair that can be controlled by the tongue otherwise known as “tongue drive.”

Tongue Driven Wheelchair

“Medical scientists at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia are developing a truly breakthrough piece of technology to assist those recovering from strokes or spinal injuries – a wheelchair that can be controlled by tongue movements.

The wheelchair technology breakthrough comes from a group of scientists at the Shepherd Center working closely with another group from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

“One of the major advantages of the tongue is that it’s directly connected to the brain,” says Maysam Ghovanloo, head of the project at Georgia Tech.
“The tongue is unlike the rest of the body, which is connected to the brain through the spinal cord. A patient who has even the highest level of spinal cord injury can still move his or her tongue like me or you.”

The Tongue Drive system is being tested on patients now, enabling them to control their own movement around the hospital in ways that were simply not possible prior to this new tech.

“The users like it because they don’t look much different when using the chair, as opposed to other mobile units that use sip and puff methods or keypads to get around,” says Ghovanloo.”

Photo Courtesy of CNN