Wheelchairs for Tough Terrain
By Domonic Corradin
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Are you afraid of the dirt? A lawn and garden phobia maybe? Won’t
"step" off the concrete? Well, fear the terra firma no more.
Grass and dirt… to some it's an inviting place to explore, but to those
of us on wheels or who use other gear to get around, that same inviting
space can be a whole different place. If you've been hesitant to get
off the sidewalk for fear of never getting back, then your time to
off-road has come.
With the use of larger, all-terrain wheels to rugged off-road
wheelchairs, from luxurious golf cars to wet and wild beach chairs,
there’s no reason why anyone cannot jump the curb and head for natural
ground.
From my own experience, when I first was injured 12 years ago, I had to
work hard to convince the wheelchair sales company that I needed
something more than grey primo tires to get me around camp grounds and
off-roading spots that served as my second home. The standard issue
tires were not going to get me around in soft beach sand and up and
down uneven trails.
So I wheeled on down to the local bike shop to talk to someone outside
the “handicapped” box… no preconceptions about my abilities, no
stereotypes. The shop owner was an avid downhill mountain biker himself
and he pointed me in the direction of a set of wild green Michelins
hanging on the wall. He explained that the tread was going to be really
good for me on all types of terrain. He used them on his own bike. I
had to buy them.
Fast-forward a decade. Now we can find outdoorsy equipment at numerous
Durable Medical Equipment (DME) stores and many online dealers like
SportAid.com. These companies are stocked with tires, rims and casters
to get you off the porch.
Kenda Tires are one of the companies putting out a high quality
wheelchair tire with some meat to it. They have many different styles
and colors to choose from. Schwalbe Tires is another manufacturer
making tires with great tread designs.
Beyond just fitting your chair with monster meats with crazy tread, you
can get a full-on radical chair just for the purpose of tearing down a
mountain or that dirt road near your house. There are fully customized
chairs designed to get you wherever your imagination – and sense of
adventure – can take you. There’s something for everyone… a leisurely
wheel down a wooded path, an afternoon in the yard, or a scream down
the mountainside for money or glory.
Starting with the mountainside, a spectacular sport known as
"Four-Wheel Mountain Biking", or down-hilling, takes the notion of “off
the beaten path” to new heights. Certainly not for the feint on heart,
these custom four-wheeled, knobby-tired, suspension-equipped rigs are
cranked over rocks and through impossible-at-first-glance terrain, down
boulder-choked, narrow single tracks, bouncing up and down for miles.
One-Off Handcycles are the creation of Mike Augspurger, an able-bodied
Massachusetts machinist who spent a decade toiling in his barn,
perfecting his design and handcrafting his freedom-ferrying off-road
four-wheelers. Augspurger’s dream was realized when Steve Ackerman and
two paraplegic buddies cranked the entire 105-mile White Rim trail in
Utah unassisted, making a point to never accept any able-bodied
assistance during their six-day feat.
Alaska-based Lasher Sport has its own custom off-road chair dubbed "The
Beast". It is a non-suspension chair with rear, independent ADI disc
brakes and aggressive knobby tires all the way around. This chair works
well in off-road conditions like mud, sand, grass, and snow. Lasher
Sport has also created an everyday use "Trail" chair with knobbies on
the back and larger fattie casters on the front.
Colours 'N Motion, located in Corona, Calif., has a lightweight chair
called the “Tremor.” Set on their custom "Fatso" tires, the chair
floats through snow and beach sand with ease. Colours also has 4-wheel
suspension chair for everyday and sport use called the “Boing.”
Another terrific option for accessing the natural world is the first
ever 2-gear wheelchair drive from Magic Wheels, launched in 2006.
Engaging the MAGICWHEELS™ low gear acts much like a lower gear on a
bicycle; the wheelchair user exerts half as much effort to negotiate
the same grade without the help of batteries or motors. It also adds
downhill braking control in low gear. Compatible with most manual
wheelchairs, the easy-shifting handrim does not add any width to the
chair. What’s more, in an independent, clinical study, the 2-gear drive
has been shown to provide over a 55% reduction in shoulder pain (visit
www.magicwheels.com to view the published results). A high-performance
4-speed dual handrim is also available.
For the power chair crowd, there are some dynamic off-road alternatives
to your everyday street rides as well. Innovation In Motion offers "no
ordinary power chair" with the X4-Extreme and X5-Frontier. From the
softest beach sand to the rugged floors of remote woodlots, the Extreme
has been taking users off the beaten path for 15 years. The Frontier,
suitable for home use with its tight-turning radius, meets the
challenges of sand, mud, snow and gravel as well (see both at
www.mobility-usa.com).
When considering your choices in tough terrain power chairs, look to
Teftec Mobility Corporation with its OmegaTrac and the BetaTrac (for
users over 400 pounds) and to iBOT® Mobility System's with its powerful
4-Wheel Function that travels easily over uneven terrain as well as
climbs curbs up to 5 inches (127mm) high.
And for those with a flair for the dramatic, here’s a real stand-up
machine. From the ParaFamily (Parabasetec in collaboration with Otto
Bock) comes the ParaScout and ParaGolfer, offering the off-road
capabilities of other terrain chairs with the added ability to move its
user from a seated to an upright position for greater accessibility,
range of motion and circulation, among other health benefits. All that,
and a fishing rod holder and dog leash bracket to boot.
With a rocky beginning, in a manner of speaking, the attention of
manufacturers to off-road wheelchairs has grown in leaps and bounds,
opening the doors to more of the great outdoors than ever before.
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