Main Types of Wheelchairs
Despite the pejorative image that has been wrongly attributed to it. The wheelchair is an essential device for moving people with reduced mobility. While public places are far from being wheelchair accessible. This “Physically Handicapped Vehicle (VHP)” still gives many disabled people enough freedom and mobility. The wheelchair comes in different models and shapes that must be chosen with care—
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Table of Contents
An Overview Of The Main Types Of Wheelchairs
The Manual Wheelchair
It is the most primitive wheelchairs model, knowing that it is merely a chair equipped with a series of wheels allowing a person with a motor disability to move around. The manual wheelchair’s main characteristic is the absence of a motor: it requires physical effort on the user or another person.
However, most manual wheelchairs are equipped with ergonomic handles, allowing them to be easily moved in any direction. Weighing between 7 and 15 kg, this type of wheelchair can be folding, detachable, or with a solid frame.
The Lightweight Wheelchair
Halfway between the manual and electric wheelchair, the lightweight wheelchair is the ideal solution for people who move around daily. While they are not always equipped with a motor, light wheelchairs are very maneuverable to allow maximum mobility. Weighing less than 10 kg, these models usually have a short seat, while their chassis itself is made from lightweight but equally strong materials. Such as carbon, aluminum, or titanium.
Lightweight wheelchairs come in two folding or standard versions
Folding chairs meet users’ needs who sometimes want to travel by car and the requirements of people with limited storage space. Lightweight wheelchairs are also available in rigid versions. Which are more suitable for people who want to move quickly and precisely. This wheelchair model is more suitable for intensive use contexts, without any space constraints limiting the user.
The Electric Wheelchair
It is a wheelchair with an electric motor. The Electric Wheelchair allows people with reduced mobility to move around thanks to an electric control positioned on the device’s handle.
Here again, we are entitled to a wide variety of models
- The indoor electric wheelchair, whose electric motor offers a mileage ranging from 10 to 16 km, for a speed of 0 to 6 km / h;
- The outdoor electric wheelchair, which offers a maximum range of 45 km and a top speed of 10 km / h;
- The height-adjustable chair: this model offers an adjustable seat as well as greater autonomy to meet the user’s requirements;
- And the “stand-up” wheelchair allows the user to adopt an upright position at certain times of the day.
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