Finding new chair

[blj5342]

Hi- my husband is 11 years post injury. C-4 quad. It's time for a new power chair. We happen to have an appointment at Shepherd's in Atlanta next week anyhow. Has anyone used their seating/chair selection clinic thing? My husband said when he was newly injured that they didn't let him choose (he was 15 at the time). He said he got to pick the color of his first chair but nothing more. And he wants to be more involved with this one. Just wandering if anyone has any thoughts on Shepherds for helping to find the right chair?

Also we'd be happy if anyone would suggest the best powerchair for someone of the C-4 injury level. He enjoys being outside and on rough terrain so he needs something extremely durable, easy to clean, very stable, and of course he wants something fast http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif He also said last night that he would like to have the smallest, lightest weight chair possible. Right now he has an invacare chair with the recline system and it weighs over 300 pounds so we're hoping to do better than that.Thanks!

[fuentejps]

be sure he sees the final order form and signs off on it. he has the final say, not as therapist. i dont know anything about power chairs

[McDuff]

Two good resources for chairs:
www.usatechguide.org (http://www.usatechguide.org) lots of reviews here
www.wheelchairjunkie.com (http://www.wheelchairjunkie.com) reviews and a very good forum to post your question in.

Good luck, McD

"Rather be ridin' than rollin'"

[PN]

I strongly recommend that he works with a qualified physical therapist (for measurements, positioning of legs, type of backrest, sitting evaluation) and demo the power chairs before deciding on the make and model. My first power chair was an Invacare and I almost settled on a second Invacare until I tried a Quickie. Good luck!

PN

[Skippy421]

I'm a C4 quad, 15 years post injury. I just got an Invacare TDX3, with "super low tilt" It's the smallest, lowest, fastest chair Medicare would pay for, and I looked around for 2 years.

I really like how tight it turns & the speed, but it does way a good 300lbs.

[blj5342]

Thanks Skippy. I'll pass that along to him.