How to Choose the Right Wheelchair for Your Needs


Wheelchairs play a vital role especially when one is dealing with patients suffering from paralysis by allowing such patients to be self-reliant. In view of this vital role, it is extremely important that one chooses the right wheelchair that offers comfort and mobility to people requiring walking aid. There are a number of factors that one needs to consider when choosing a wheelchair since such factors are the ones that determine the right one for the patient. You can imagine the kind of discomfort that a patient can experience when using a wheelchair that is too small. There are also other wheelchairs that are over-priced but their price tag is not commensurate of their efficiency. When dealing with patients who need assistance to be self-reliant, always remember that the primary objective of the wheelchair is to guarantee mobility and comfort to the patient. Always remember that everything comes down to the patient’s unique mobility needs and the level of being self-reliant that is required. Once you are out shopping for a high performance wheelchair, you will realize that there are so many options to choose from which is why many people have challenges choosing the right high performance wheelchairs. However, the situation is not supposed to be challenging as long as you know what to look for in a wheelchair. Additional features such as the ability to fold as it is with folding wheelchairs or off road tires for wheelchairs can also be used to make a decision to get the ideal wheelchair that ensures that the patient becomes self-reliant and maintains an active lifestyle. Below are additional factors to consider when choosing a wheelchair that enables a patient become self-reliant.

Consider the Patient Mobility Needs
When dealing with a patient who is not self-reliant, it is always a good move to understand the patient’s unique needs. There are people who require total assistance when it comes to mobility which means that such people require highly specialized wheelchairs. However, people with slight injuries such as lower back injuries can still be self-reliant even with a manual wheelchair. To have the right wheelchair, you will need to evaluate the level of assistance that the patient needs. Remember, the experience is not the same with different wheelchairs and choosing the wrong one can escalate the problem rather than solving it. Of course you will need to also need to look at other features that can determine the kind of experience that the patient will have such as the size of the wheelchair. Of course you can’t have an oversized person using a wheelchair that is definitely not the right size. Considering that such people require spending most of their time on the wheelchair for mobility, having the wrong-sized wheelchair could cause further injuries. There are also wheelchairs that have additional features that make them suitable for different kind of situations such as outdoor movements.

Consider the Cost of the Wheelchair
One of the best approaches when choosing a wheelchair is by having a budget in mind even before you hit the market. This way, you are guaranteed of not over-spending on an average wheelchair that might not even be the best fit. To ensure prudent spending of your finances, make a price comparison to ensure that you have an idea of the current market rate for the right wheelchair. There are a number of reasons why there is a price variance the main one being the features that the wheelchair has. Of course electric wheelchairs are more expensive than the manual ones. However, electronic wheelchairs are more effective to operate as they allow self-propulsion by the user. For people with unique mobility needs, of course you will be required to pay more for the electric wheelchair but it has value for money. For people with minor injuries that will not require them to be confined to a wheelchair for a long period of time, there is no point of spending heavily on a wheelchair that you will probably not use for long. As long as you undertake due diligence when choosing the wheelchair, you are guaranteed of choosing the best fit and one that offers value for money.