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Home / Thoughts / Other's Thoughts / Lane's Thoughts / Brother Can You Spare A Chair?

Brother Can You Spare A Chair?

Written by Lane on Sunday, June 21, 2009

OK, so I’m already guilty. From a BIID perspective, I’ve already lived part of the dream – more than many have even dreamed. Multiple neurological injuries, permanently reduced function, Rx braces and wheelchairs without much, if any deceit. Still, both physical pain and BIID pain loom large, so I’m in the market for yet another chair. (I will use another post to detail why I use mobility aid for legit ailments.)

I should mention that I’ve been asked to be more detailed in my description of both the Rx/ordering process and the configuration details, so that is what follows:

Like some others, it is critical to me that everything be as legitimate as possible. I have the resources to order a chair online and I could probably even find a way to explain it to my rather unsupportive, but tolerant and loving wife. However, I truly need to have a doctor tell me that I have a medical need for a new chair and to write a Rx for the same. As it turns out, getting a doctor to see it my way turned out to be the easiest part of the whole ordeal. (After securing the Rx and a quality vendor, the process has taken months. I’m told that it always does.)

For completeness, I feel I should mention that while any doctor can legally write an Rx for any product, medical or test, technically, in the US, only a psysiatrist or an orthopedic specialist, such as an orthopedic surgeon is board authorized to Rx mobility DME, such as a chair. Keep this in mind when seeking an Rx for your own equipment. Depending on your country, you may potentially put your GP (for instance) in a risky situation.

Like I said, I feel some guilt talking about getting my third chair, when some others are struggling to get their first, but I guess I can only honestly tell my own story. I’ve been struggling with my clunker – a Sunrise Medical Quickie 2 folding beast for the last 7 years. I’ve given it new wheels, tires, two stellar paint jobs (one to match my sports car), umteen adjustment and taken it about as far as I can. I have grown, it has not, and it’s just time for something new. Even when it was brand new, it didn’t fit right, which is all too common.

In another post, I’ll cover measuring yourself and avoiding the common measuring mistakes and near-mistakes. (Regular posts and readers – please let me know if there is a post that covers this with sufficient detail – I haven’t found one.)

To keep with the legitimacy them, I wanted to process this order through insurance. After all, I have need and I intend to use it regularly, so I feel very little guilt about this. Since I am quite tall, I hover around the 250# mark. It turns out that claiming a weight in excess of the 250# mark sharply reduces the options – to a few higher quality chairs. This means that they won’t try to stick me in some cheap-o bargain basement model. Quite sadly, it also ruled out my personal favorite, the TiLite ZRa, but with prodding by my DME provider, insurance agreed to pay for a Quickie GTi – my first Titanium wheels.

Quickie GTI

Besides lighter weight, which is more marketing than practical (it’s about 2#/1 kilo less), the Ti frame has better handling characteristics. After the flexing nonsense of the Q2, I am more than ready for something more rigid and predictable.

OK, so with the basic (quite cool) frame established, I’ll go into my decisions on some of the key options. Of course, these are my options – YMMV.

First, I has always hated the fixed, height adjustable arm rests on my Q2. The seemed very much in the way and cumbersome. I like having armrests, but not those. When I found out about the swing-aways, I had to have them. I could rest, transfer, and weight shift, without having all of the adjustment hardware poking me in the side. In fact, I was so annoyed with the arm rests that I wanted everything away from my sides, so I ordered the new chair without side guards and an extra inch to spare – saving my clothes somewhat.

During the process of making each choice, I reminded myself that this chair was for ME and no one else. As such, I eliminated even the attractive GTi fold-down push handles (I don’t ever want to be pushed), chose a fairly low back, where I could easily be seen, eliminated the bulky arm rests, chose the under-mount scissor wheel locks. I wanted the chair to be an extension of myself, but as inconspicuous as possible.

Now, that’s not to say, that I didn’t want the whole deal to be tasteful. Wheels were the next choice. I could have had fun going with yellow spoke Spinergy wheels and red tires, but I stuck with Lite wire wheels and poly tires. The poly tires were chosen due to the heightened possibility of my encountering things that might puncture plain pneumatic tires.

4″ casters.

For me, I was most opinionated about casters. OK fine, so they’re just little wheels, but I think these are one of the most personal choices, one of most greatest differentiators on a chairs. For me, I absolutely did NOT want to have any light-up anything. I am over 16, and have my natural hair color, so they were out. Also, after my grandma-chair plastic-center wheels and casters on my Q2, I demanded aluminum centers on my new casters. I heard quite a few mixed review on the soft-roll casters, so I went with 1” poly tires on 4” casters. I’m a pretty good (semi-pro) automotive painter, so can make them look a bit more racy if I want to later. I also like the fact that 4” wheels are also practical and that there is a large supply of replacements or all types.

Natural fit handrims

I’m looking forward to one new technical innovation on my new wheels this time around – Natural-Fit handrims. Each of my hands has a different deficiency. Most times, I am able to push adequately, but with some difficulty. I think that larger handrims, along with a better place to engage my thumbs will substantially improve braking and propulsion. I’ll keep you all informed as to whether this is true and whether these are worth the investment. It might be difficult, due to the fact that the benefits partially depend on your current hand function.

Cushion

There are some less glamorous aspects of a new chair that must be addressed. Since I was changing both the width and depth (finally) of the chair, a new cushion was required. I know that there are a full range of options from the simple to the highly exotic, but have been happy with the two that I have tried – a gel-foam combo and a single-part foam. This time, I am trying a multi-layer (Visco) foam model from Invacare. I have been assured that it is a genuine advance from simpler foam designs. Only time will tell. Still, I’m looking forward to trying something new – especially since I’ll be using the chair for much longer distances and times. I know that I don’t want something with too much maintenance or too heavy, so this seems like a good choice, if specifications are to be believed.

Another new thing my seating specialist proposed is an adjustable seatback. I made it clear that one of the things I hated most about my Q2 was that I felt that the metal frame pushed me forward, while the upholstery offered less support. He mentioned that the level of support changes over times as the fabric changes – due to wear, humidity, and stretching. Thus, following his recommendation, I’ll be trying an adjustable setup. This weights more and looks a bit more complicated. I appreciate a minimalist looks, so I’m not completely sold, but if it offers the support he claims, it will really be worth it.

So those are the high points. Feel absolutely free to ask for finer details, I’ve studied the specifications, order forms and options for hours on numerous chairs. In fact, as I did so, one night, after competing and signing the order form with the seating guy, I discovered a big problem.

I wanted a wider chair to fit my 7-year older body, plus 3 degree camber for both aesthetics and response. However, I had a day off and I was bored, so I made a quick call to Sunrise Medical and took some measurements – for a final verification. I was horrified to find that there was a mere 3/8” (1cm) gap between the smallest door in our home – the main entry door. Something had to change. After working out various scenarios with the very nice people at Sunrise, I had to swallow a bit of pride and call my provider. I narrowed the chair, removed the armrests (<big frown>), and added side guards). In some ways the chair will actually be better, so I’m not unhappy – even if it’s not exactly what I had in mind originally. The moral of this story – measure twice – cut once. I don’t have another 5000 USD to try again.

* Look for more details on mobility aids, measurements, tires, etc. in a future post.

Tags: chair, DME, Wheelchair

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