Archive for the ‘Hilfsmittel’ Category

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks V

星期二, 三月 2nd, 2010

It is always a little difficult to switch on and off electric devices sitting in a wheelchair.

There are always missing the commonly known 2 cm.
Not 1 cm, or 5 cm?
There are always 2 cm.

I have the theory that this results from mass inertia, momentum and black holes.

Here is the solution:

remote-controlled electrical sockets!!!

A remote-controlled Christmas Tree lighting is quite nice.

(see other blogpost)

Radio coverage allegedly until 25 m. (Probably only at full moon on April 1st).

You can get regularly special offers for a pack of 4!
(15 €, not much more.)

If you buy the pack of 4 twice from the same manufacturer, you should change the radio frequency with the little DIP switches, (in German) also known as

mice piano

.

It might happen otherwise that the toilet light is switched on together with the coffee machine.

Well, maybe not so bad after all… let’s think about it again…

It is not complicated to change the switches.
Every quadriplegic who manages it should get a piece of cake or two from his occupational therapist.

Serious safety instruction:
Please always consider the max. switching power, around 1000 watt.
Never connect an electric heater, around 2000 watt!!!
The switches get hot and might start burning.

I have experimentally connected an electric heater, the electrical socket didn’t survive!!!

Should there be any difficulties with playing the keys (setting the switches) I am at your disposal as professional ”piano tutor” .

Have fun with the piano lesson.

Translator BL

 

Quadriplegic Tips XV

星期二, 二月 23rd, 2010

After the usual administrative chaos caused by all those who can cut a piece of paper gets currently out of hand, I feel a bit like the “Hauptmann von Köpenick” (synonym from German literature for a catch-22; without residence no work, without work no residence), and I have decided to take 3-4 valium more and turn again towards my

passion,

the technical aids for quadriplegics. What a sentence, the blue things are helping already, I am suddenly missing the fullstopslll

Knife, fork, scissors, flames, have no place in quadriplegic’s gamesl
That’s about true :-)

To cut paper with a scissor is not funny,
especially when you like me can’t even press a clothespin.
If

scissor-type silhouettes

aren’t going to be the new hobby I can highly recommend a

Paper Guillotine,

one-arm-usage guaranteed “fullstop”.

The blue pills are ttzzzzzzzzz

Translator BL

Introducing the Mouse

星期日, 二月 21st, 2010

When you have motor functions in hands and fingers like the Berlin wall you automatically keep everything tidy, otherwise you will drown into chaos.

My wheelchair rucksack contains more or less everything what you need to survive in the wild.

For me it takes some effort to take down the rucksack from the back of my wheelchair and rummage around into it to search for something which somebody has stuffed in there.

Probably scientists never have thought about:

Where on a rucksack is front and back?

This question should be clarified once and for all.

I have learnt once that on a car the front is always in driving direction when you are sitting inside.
Driving backwards doesn’t count.

Can I apply this to my wheelchair rucksack as well?

The wheelchair transport drivers always have asked me in which pocket of my rucksack was the card to debit the transport charges?

I would have liked to know it myself… Each time in a different place.

Is the small pocket on the front or the back of the rucksack?

This depends probably from the viewer’s perspective.
For me sitting in the wheelchair it is on the back, for some of the drivers it is on the front, or not???

A solution had to be found. At a visit of the regional broadcasting station I had bought

The “Maus”

(translator’s note: the mouse, popular German children TV character) and fixed it on one pocket of my rucksack.
From this day it only went:

With the mouse!

In the mouse pocket!

In the mouse trap!

Basically the result was quite good.
But now more or less everything is stuffed into the mouse pocket, so that there is a big mess now inside.

Will I have to switch to Walt Disney now and fix a whole toy armada to my rucksack to find the remote control for my stairlift?!

Donations of small accessories with key ring to mark the other pockets will be gladly accepted.

Wheelchair rucksack cuddly toys donation account

Some time I will confuse the drivers totally and fix the “Blue Elephant” (companion of the “Maus”) on my rucksack ;-)

Translator BL

 

Quadriplegic Tips XIV

星期五, 二月 12th, 2010

Due to my spinal cord injury my blood pressure hardly rises above 100.

My mate always says:
Don’t get upset, otherwise you will get a blood pressure of 120.

To increase my blood pressure there is apart from pills a much faster method,

zip fastener

Just try to cook a 4-course-menu with winter mittens, then you know what I mean.

The ultimate discipline are ski jackets with double zipper.

Commitment to a psychiatric institution guaranteed.

Each quadriplegic has a key ring on the zipper.

With a

clip for braces + key ring or tie wrap

I now have 2 rings at the zipper start.

You “go“ with two fingers in the ring.

Now you have to practice, practice, practice,…

Then the zipper can be closed quite well…

If the zipper is not gliding well, there is the old skiing trick with a little spray of

silicon oil

and then it slides considerably easier.

See what is written on the can:
“Everything“ will glide faster, easier, and more quietly!!!

Listen, you don’t hear anything ;-)

Translator BL

 

Quadriplegic Tips XIII

星期三, 二月 10th, 2010

Here comes a for insiders quite well-known technical aid!!!

I will call it

Angle knife.

It’s a mystery to me how you can cut something with this knife without hurting yourself.

A first aid plaster dispenser on the handle would probably make some sense.

I would have to try to grip this sharp construct with two hands, and before the sausage should be nailed down to the table.

OK, enough nagging.

Look at it, maybe it can help some of you!

One might possibly change tyres with it.

I better shouldn’t have mixed Novalgin with Vodka.

Addendum:

Read the blogpost
Link:

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XLVIII

about a really good quadriplegic special knife

from the company www.mehal.de.

Translator BL

Quadriplegic Workshop III

星期二, 二月 9th, 2010

You have probably noticed already that I am a self-confessed pedant in the technical area.

I am very lucky that my family and friends again and again take their time to realize my sometimes a bit weird ideas in the area of technical aids.
It is hardly possible to do this myself with my handicap.

At this stage many, many thanks.

If I wouldn’t have this kind of help my technical aids would be a lot more basic.

Here is a great idea how you can help yourself as quadriplegic with the most simple means.
The tie wrap on the phone has amongst others the reason to hang the phone over the brake of the wheelchair.

Thank you for the tip, I need more of these!!!

Even I can write serious blogposts.
Where have my pills gone?

Translator BL

 

Quadriplegic Tips XII

星期二, 二月 9th, 2010

The personal enemy of the quadri-(aka tetra-)plegic is, hardly to believe, the:

Tetra Pak beverage carton

These things are so smooth that it is hardly possible to decently pour something into a glass.

I was owning this

metal holder for Tetra Paks

already a couple of years before my accident.

It was revitalised from my

kitchenware graveyard

and does a good job for me now.

If somebody knows the source of supply of this extremely useful equipment, please send a short e-mail to me.
Have a look on to your kitchenware graveyard, maybe 10-15 pieces are lying around there which you have in excess?

rollinator@eigude.de

Translator BL

Quadriplegic Tips XI

星期一, 二月 8th, 2010

I have decided to occupy myself with

shoes

now.

Basically I don’t have anything against shoes, but I have entered the fray against the fastening laces.

Shoelaces

are getting me to the edge of reason, or it is already getting dark when I start tying them after breakfast.

I admire each quadriplegic who manages this in spite of a limited hand function.
It would be an option to switch to shoes with velcro tape.
But there is insufficient choice with my

flat splay drop feet.

An excellent option are special shoelaces which are nothing different than a

spiral round elastic band,

which is holding the shoe together.
I call them

idler shoelaces.

They are available in white, black, blue and brown, but also as shoelaces fake with even a bow on it.

Source of supply Link: Reha Handel

Now it is about time to consult my psychologist!
I am showing off my feet/shoes to the world.
Let’s see when it’s the turn of the next extremities.

Translator BL

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks IV

星期五, 二月 5th, 2010

At the moment everybody is only talking about snow, snow, snow.

Therefore now:

Summer, sun, holiday, heat, heat, heat…

Whenever somebody is lamenting how much too much he is sweating (I knew that well enough), I am introducing my ultimate remedy:

Such a spinal cord injury can work miracles!
(OK that was too hard).

Well, not to be able to sweat any more sounds rather helpful initially, but there is a severe hitch.
E.g. if I am standing in the sun in the summer my body temperature is rising constantly and rising and rising…
So far I could avoid something worse happening.

Water, water, water …

Such a water sprayer for flowers is tailor-made as medical device, but quite bulky and falls constantly off one’s knees.
After longer research, a battery-operated

“hand fan with integrated water sprayer”

has flown to me.

Typically one should apply for a medial device number for this thing.
Then the fan would probably cost 265,23 €.

To prevent price rigging I reveal the source of supply only personally under:

rollinator@eigude.de

Translator BL

 

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks III

星期一, 二月 1st, 2010

As wheeler out in the wild you are not really noticed by the pedestrians.
This is getting extreme in bigger crowds like sports events or festivals.
It is quite funny if at a street fair the girls take a seat on your lap because you have been again overlooked. But the whole thing gradually gets a little irritating when the number of “hitchhikers” increases towards evening in the dark.

My tip is a

head light

Ideally a blinking one.
These things are simply great.
The pedestrians see the light between their legs, are totally confused, and a gap is formed as if Moses had parted the sea.

Because H4 spotlights on a wheelchair are quite rare such a head light is very recommendable for nightly excursions.
With it each pothole is seen and can now be driven around, depending on the condition of the wheeler.

Not only alcohol but also the taking of pills can reduce the fitness to drive. Opium for the people. Drive slooooowly!!

Translator BL

 

Rollituning Part III

星期日, 一月 24th, 2010

Bei allen Luftreifen am Rolli sollte man ca. 14 tägig den

Reifendruck

kontrollieren, oder man hat Spaß daran einen Anker hinter sich herzuziehen.

Der freundliche Tankwart um die Ecke ist wie dafür gemacht.
Es hat zwar etwas gedauert, bis er überzeugt war, dass ich wirklich auf meinem Rollirädern 8 Bar Druck haben möchte, nun gut.

Viele Rollifahrer verwenden Reifen der Fa. Schwalbe Typ:
„Marathon Plus“. Betriebsdruck 6-10 Bar.
Angeblich würden die Teile auch 12 Bar aushalten.
So mutig war ich noch nicht, ich stand neben einem Rollifahrer als einer seiner Reifen platzte.
Brachial laut. Da piepsen nicht nur die Ohren.

Ich habe einmal einen Rollifahrer kennen gelernt, der nach 4 Jahren das erste mal richtigen Luftdruck auf den Reifen hatte und sich die Bremse dann nachstellen lassen musste, weil er sie nicht mehr drücken konnte.

Es gibt für kleines Geld Minikompressoren die aussehen wie ein Akkuschrauber.
Wenn man an den Schlauch einen vernünftigen Ventilanschluss montiert, sind die gar nicht schlecht.
Es muss ja nicht immer ein Grüner sein.

Quadriplegic Workshop II

星期四, 一月 21st, 2010

It was used already in the mid of the 1980’s:

The 512 kB USB Stick Version Tetra 1.0 with tie wrap

Each quadriplegic manages to pull out this USB stick. ;-)

Translator BL

 

Quadriplegic Workshop I

星期三, 一月 20th, 2010

I received this photo a couple of days ago.
Look closely,
the plumber didn’t have 2,5 per mill blood alcohol level and mounted the clamp incorrectly.
With this hose clamp you can easily regulate the thermostat.
Great idea!!!


Security advice:
If possible you should upgrade it with a child safety feature in form of a cork.
A wrong grasp could end painfully.

Translator BL

 

Quadriplegic Tips Part X

星期三, 一月 13th, 2010

Many quadriplegics don’t work anymore.

To improve one’s budget Poker or Skat are gambled quite often.

In order to better hold the cards,

a tool is used which was thousand fold field-tested

by the German disaster relief organisation (THW).

Translator BL

 

Wheelchair Tuning Part II

星期二, 一月 5th, 2010

Such an active wheelchair is in no way comparable with such a mobile garden bench as you know from the hospitals.

The manufacturers offer the most different wheelchair accessories which might be completely reasonable. You should negotiate about sponsoring in your individual case with your health insurance or bank. Don’t exaggerate, always use original parts of the manufacturer and let professional personnel mount it.

Only screw with your eyes :-)

I have tetra clips at the wheelchair tyres, i.e. the chrome clip is folded forward, then you put the hand into it and pull the wheel off.
It’s not “going“ any easier.

Addendum:

If the driving wheels are dangling, DON’T take it as given.
The length of the axes can be adjusted optimally, even if it is rather inconvenient.

Addendum: The tetra clip is not recommendable if not absolutely needed, because thereby the wheels always have a little “play”, and the metal holders are rattling on the spokes.

Translator BL