The Official Powerchair Thread

Post Reply New Topic

Welcome to the official powerchair thread. I created this thread for anyone interested in discussion of powerchairs to come and do so. Anyone can come and ask questions about powerchairs here and one of us who is capable of answering it will do so.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBCkxen1d_8[/youtube]
powerchair above is similar to what my powerchair is going to look like

ahh right at 3:20 one of my favorite things about powerchairs... centrifugal force... only possible on a Center Wheel Drive (CWD)

I worked in a Spinal Injuries Unit for 6 weeks as a student (in 1994).

There were 2 young men with ventilator dependent quadriplegia.

One of them was trialling a breath controlled electric chair/power chair.

Do you know much about the breath controlled chairs?

Helen

yes i know a lot about sip & puff (S&P) controlled powerchairs. some of the powerchairs can be controlled by someone who has lateral only head movement using the S&P interface for forward/backward movement control.. in other cases the entire powerchair is controlled through the S&P system by using a "morse code" of sucks and blows to control the powerchair... in the past i have experienced S&P control, and by now being my breathing isnt that good itd probably be even more tiring than it was back then...

if you have any more questions about S&P please ask them here...

oh and heres a little picture for ya

the ultimate head array for the ultimate hackers powerchair.

sip & puff controlled powerchairs - how much do they cost?

I remember one of the young men had to fight the health system to be allowed out of hospital.

The health system - at that time - didn't want to let him out of hospital because it was cheaper to care for him in hospital then to send him home and fund nurses. As if an 19 year old wants to live in hospital!!

Anyway, he fought the system and got out of hospital. He also met Christopher Reeve. This particular man now works as a motivational speaker. Due to confidentiality I can't mention his name.

Helen

Depending on seating & positioning components along with powerchair brand and other adaptive systems being used the average S&P powerchair can run anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 USD

I only watched 3:24 minutes of the movie, its fairly long!

well you at least got to see him in centrifugal mode

have they invented the powerbed yet? thats what i'd need!

just imagine being able to go to 9am lectures at university without having to get out of bed

Year....I saw him almost get run over by a car!

DivaD yes they have!! ! the powerbed has been INVENTED!! here it is!! !

Wow!

You'd want to have good insurance, or generous government subsidy!

Helen

COOL!! !

he he he... yeah, thats why he just suddenly stopped the centrifuge..

mine without S&P is running 25,000 and will likely need expansion/upgrades as my condition progresses...

cool thing is, the maximum we possibly have to pay is 1,000

good insurance we have

I've only got $500!! !

indeed very cool