Joint Pain in Wheelchair Users can be a source of real concern, affecting ones’ ability to fully enjoy each day.

However, there are ways to control the pain. Here are some options available to wheelchair users with joint pain, to give relief and better alleviate the pain.

Exercise: Particularly of the upper body to strengthen and keep those arm, shoulder and chest joints and muscles supple/ flexible. Regularly doing this, your body will be able to withstand better, the stress that manual wheelchair use puts on the upper body…

Wheelchair users are usually at risk of developing joint pain.

A lot of factors lead to the development of joint pain. But for wheelchair users, a number of specific reasons are commonly its’ cause.

One of such factors that cause joint pain is the constant hard use of the shoulder and elbow joints. Especially in cases of manual wheelchair use. Excessive use of the joints in the shoulder and elbow may wear out the disks on those joints, causing pain.

The muscles controlling the joint must also be taken into account. Your muscles may cause harm to a joint if…

A mental disability is a medical condition usually caused by a brain injury or damage. It negatively affects a person’s thinking; their ability to relate with others and their ability to cope with everyday tasks.

It is characterised by neurological disorders, learning disabilities or mental retardation.

Some of the Challenges which should Raise Our Concern for the Mentally Disabled Include: An inability to make appropriate decisions about matters essential to their own well-being – Cooking, Dressing right for the weather, Unawareness of their environment, Inability to recognise/ protect themselves from dangerous situations…

…A tendency to unleash violence upon themselves, or on those around them; Unusual aggressiveness; A wish to take own’s life…

Disability Living Allowance is a financial aid – a Benefit – paid to disabled people who need help looking after themselves; To those with mobility problems who find it difficult/ impossible to move around; And to those with a terminal illness – Expected to die within the following 6 months.

It is not based on [the] disability but the needs arising from it. Needs involving bodily functions such as bathing, feeding, dressing up…

Getting qualified to recieve this benefit takes a lot of time – applying for forms, filling the forms (There 59 pages of very personal, depressing stuff to fill in), getting the medical assessments, waiting for those results and those of other medical/ physiological/ institutuional… bodies involved in the referral and assessments…

With so many mobility wheelchairs on offer, it may be easy to get distracted from choosing the right wheelchair to meet your needs.

So, we’ve put together 5 Buying Tips and Recommendations to guide you in your search.

The First – and Most Important Factor – is to Determine your Strength and Abilities. Do you have arms and legs at all? Have you had to have one or the other amputated at some point due to a medical condition? If you do have arms and / or legs, Can you move them at all? How easy is it for you to do this?

These questions will help to determine if you will be operating your wheelchair by yourself. Or if you will need help operating it.

If you do have arms that are strong enough to push you around in your wheelchair, then what you most likely need is a manual wheelchair. On the other hand, if you can move your hands but will tire easily pushing…