Archive for the ‘Hilfsmittel für Tetras’ Category

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XXX

星期五, 三月 11th, 2011

If you are like me major customer of the pharmaceutical industry you should expect that the pills will be delivered already sorted according to intake date and daytime.

Because unfortunately this is not the case you have to prepare your daily dope yourself.

To elicit the pills out of the blister there are except from the well-tried “I squeeze hard with my thumb” technique the most different technical aids.

To what extent these pieces are useful is of course depending on the particular handicap of the user.

Here is a small selection:

With this a little futuristic appearing

double cone,

you are able to squeeze the pills out with one hand. But only very few fit into the collecting bowl.

This small

Taiwanese Pill Puncher

you should always use very gently. Sometimes you have to cut the blisters so that you can also squeeze out middle sized pills. But it is more robust than it looks like.

New on the market is this

German metal model.

Developed and built by a locksmithery. Not suitable for capsules, the spring steel sheet has to be bent back again and again. But the white bowl can be removed which might be quite useful.

On the American market I have found this

Pill Puncher.

My current winner. Simple and well-thought. The collecting bowl is the entire square lower part with which the pills can be emptied after squeezing them out like with a shovel.

I haven’t found a pill puncher yet which I can use reasonably with my buckled fingers. If you know or use other types please write a comment, or e-mail as usual to rollinator@eigude.de .

I need urgently new dope!

Translator BL

 

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XXVI

星期三, 二月 2nd, 2011

As I mentioned on my front page I have a considerable big database with technical aids of all kind.

From exploded drawings of wheelchairs via seat cushions, car steering systems, up to a luxury bath robe for wheelchair users
(whoever needs it).

Each concerned person can get this information from me for free.

I also give advice for free when you need technical aids, the existing parts are falling apart again or don’t work otherwise.

There is a database in the internet, called Rehadat.

It is an official information system for vocational rehabilitation.

There you will find many useful information, including

22600 technical aids

www.rehadat.de

technical aids for fairly all needs, with medical device number!

(In the English version it is possible to search the databases on Technical Aids, Case Studies, Addresses, Research and Literature. A search in all eight databases is only possible in the German version.)

I will be pleased to help you on how you will get the selected parts, or if you have questions concerning the parts.

Caution, highly addictive! If you find something cool please send an e-mail.

Translator BL

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XXIV

星期二, 十二月 28th, 2010

Low-budget wheelchair mountainbike winter tyres

As already mentioned in several blogposts I am convinced that a set of

mountainbike wheelchair tyres

should be provided with the basic equipment of the first wheelchair.
Somehow a secret is made around the big advantage of these tyres.
For me, these tyres are no surplus luxury goods, or poser sport equipment, but a medical necessity so that a justification for the prescription of a medical device, the request for approval at the health insurance, is basically given.

Due to the wider-based tyres the security increases especially in cities with cobble stone because you don’t get stuck in the joints so often anymore.

Many shocks due to bad ground conditions are absorbed by the tyres, thus the spinal cord respectively the whole body is not strained so much anymore. Your back and bottom will be happy.

The wheelchair pusher is relieved very much on bad trails, mud, ice and snow…

The argument that you make no headway with these wheels is very much depending on the tyres, but not overall correct. The advantages predominate. I recommend a Schwalbe Land Cruiser as tyre.

The disadvantage of the wheels is the broadening of the whole wheelchair. Too bad if you don’t fit into the garage anymore.

I don’t know to which extent it is medically important for the health insurance that the wheeler can leave his home even in snow drift. You could catch a cold, but the groceries of the most important things like coffee, chocolate and condoms… should be ensured in winter as well.

With prices for a set of mountainbike wheelchair tyres from 560 € – 900 € from the wheelchair producers I understand everybody who refuses to buy them because actually these are “only” wheelchair tyres with a 10 – 20 € bicycle rim with bicycle tube and tyre.

As a matter of principle I refuse to pay such exorbitant prices. For the same money you can get already a really nice complete mountainbike. Thus I have let me built two wheelchair tyres for around 220 €.

Yesterday I have found a wheelchair replacement part company in the nearer abroad who charge per piece

wheelchair mountainbike tyre 117€


This price is more than reasonable.

You shouldn’t forget the insurance aspect. With do-it-yourself constructions you can get into trouble if something is happening.

The company is currently closed until January.

I have ordered a quite special

wheelchair hand rim for quadriplegics

from this company with which I hope to ride a little out in the snow by myself.

Of course I will write if the ordering should work.

Company name enquiries to me:

Contact: rollinator@eigude.de

From a snow height of 2 meters even my tyres slowly reach their limits.

Click on Tags “Wheelchair tyres” to read more blogposts.

Translator BL

(Deutsch) Werbung Part I

星期二, 十一月 30th, 2010

对不起,此内容只适用于Deutsch

Quadriplegic Tips XVII

星期一, 十一月 22nd, 2010

I am totally convinced that I own the coolest

Floss dispenser

of all times.
Manfred the fisherman motivates me every morning anew to do something meaningful with the day, provided that you define the “nonsense” that I permanently produce as meaningful.
Everything is to my opinion more meaningful than to sit on the couch and wait with the PS2 plastic fishing rod that the fish virtually bites the bait on TV. (No joke, see older blogpost).

Well, if the fish is delicious!

Back to the floss. The usage of floss in traditional technique leads with my light-fingeredness, with the emphasis on “light”, inevitably to undesired self-bondages and strangulations.

There are these little flossers with which you have to watch out that you don’t swallow them. According to latest rumours the new floss holder with integrated span mechanism and rubberized grip handle of the brand GUM:

Floss holder type Flosbrush

looks exactly like the strange thing which is lying on my table since the last midsummer. The engineer was probably quadriplegic. This great part is not available at German retailers.
But ask your dentist or druid on the corner (pharmacy) if they can order such a thing. The old model doesn’t have a span mechanism yet, but is also good to handle. The new one will be launched in the next weeks.

I don’t know yet how much it will cost.

Translator BL

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XXII

星期二, 十一月 16th, 2010

Als ich noch “Fußie” war, bin ich je nach Dienst um 04:30 Uhr aufgestanden. Das es zu dieser Zeit recht dunkel ist, wenn man ums Bett geht und zuvor die Nachttischlampe ausgeschaltet hat, ist klar. Mein Schienbein hat sich hierbei in regelmäßigen Abständen mit der Ecke des herausragenden Bettrahmenbalkens angelegt und verloren.
Aus diesem Grund hatte ich mir seinerzeit ein batteriebetriebenes

LED-Nachtlicht mit Bewegungsmelder

angeschafft, das ich quasi als Bettunterbeleuchtung verwendet habe. Diese Teile sind mittlerweile recht günstig und im Baumarkt, oder zeitweise beim Discounter für unter 10 € zu erwerben.

Jetzt habe die LED-Lampe auf meinem Nachttisch stehen. Da muss ich nur mal mit der Hand winken, damit das Licht angeht.
Dies ist genial, da ich durch die Lähmung der Beine / Hüfte wortwörtlich wie ein Maikäfer auf dem Rücken liege und nicht ohne größte Schwierigkeiten an den Schalter der normalen Nachttischlampe komme. Am Boden in der Wohnung machen die Teile auch Sinn, da muss man beim Durchrollern von Zimmer zu Zimmer nicht immer alle Lichter Ein- und Ausschalten.

Mit Akkus bestückt “geht” mir ca. 3 Monate lang Nachts ein Licht auf!

LED = Lumineszenz Emitter Diode

Technical Aids for Quadriplegics

星期四, 十一月 11th, 2010

With my buckled Tetra fingers I can’t open cans any more.

I think that I might succeed some day with this

plastic bow

.

The can is standing on a non-slip mat (see older blogpost).

The leverage is considerable.

The opener is distributed by the Company Brix Denmark.
The company produces other openers as well.

With this part it should be possible to open an

Eintracht- Frankfurt Adlerschoppe

.

It is incomprehensible to me why the plastic bow is called J-Popper.
Let’s think about it…

Translator BL

 

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XX

星期五, 十月 29th, 2010

Los Cristianos in the south of Tenerife is exceedingly accessible, but quite hilly and only to cope for fit wheelchair users or with extreme pusher.
Wheelchairs, rollators, crutches and rented scooters or electric wheelchairs belong to the townscape.
An alternative to electric wheelchair or scooter is an approximately 60 kg heavy, little tractive.

Minitrac or Swisstrac

I call this thing a mobile cider crate.
With some practice the docking is quite easy. The tractive power is remarkable. I didn’t have any difficulties with gradients, provided that the floor plates were not too slippery.

Curbs are no hurdles at all. The docking bar in the mid of the wheelchair can be de-installed easily, even with a foldable wheelchair.
The some year old Minitrac has passed my 10 day test quite well. Although it was mounted to my wheelchair in a little unconventional-creative-spanish way, it was technically absolutely alright.
The Minitrac a German and the Swisstrac a Swiss product are quite similar. I only heard good things about the Swisstrac, but haven’t tested it yet. I have seen the new Swisstrac on a fair, the new docking station is easy to handle for quadriplegics.

I like these small things, and they fit into any trunk, if a well-trained pedestrian is found to lift it.

The colour was disgusting: pinkish red with glitter effect! Ugh…

There is one comment worth to be translated from the chief engineer of Swisstrac

Wheelchair Tuning Part XVI

星期二, 十月 26th, 2010

When I was at the last rehab fair I have tested an assumed new wheelchair drive. It is called

NuDrive

and is basically not a bad idea.

For para- or quadriplegics like me without abdominal muscles and a disposition to fall forward out of the wheelchair it might not be suitable.

By pulling on two handles the driving wheels are turned independently from each other, and by pushing the brakes are applied. Unfortunately these things only have one gear so that you only get faster if you are “paddling” faster.
Even if I wouldn’t purchase this drive, it makes driving considerably easier if you don’t have much power. I like it that it has been thought about us quadriplegics as well with wristbands.

Somehow I think to have seen something similar on age-old wheelchairs…

Translator BL

Technical Aids Tips und Tricks XIX

星期日, 十月 10th, 2010

I think that this special pen might be quite helpful for many fellows who can’t grip very well any more. It is also available rubberized. This pen was probably developed by a concerned person.
I think the

special pen

is great.

If you don’t have much power to write I recommend DVD labelling pens.

Translator BL

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XVIII

星期六, 十月 9th, 2010

The market for technical aids is huge.

There is almost everything you can imagine in the broadest sense. The problem is not only that this stuff is unreasonably expensive, but also apparently nobody has ever tested it.

The Taiwanese fabricate a basically ingenious key holder, like a Suisse Army Knife.
This can be found in almost every catalogue for technical aids.
Because of its size the key holder can be grasped even with limited finger functions. If the key is stuck in the lock the holder is bent by 90° so that you can open the lock due to the big lever with your “little finger”!!!

Attention: If someone else wants to open a door with your key holder please point out to him that a key can be broken off quickly with this technical aid.

The bad thing is that our European keys are a little thicker than the Asian ones and therefore don’t fit in. Such technical aids disappear in the cupboard, like the food processer from the home shopping channel. I have adjusted my

Key holder

accordingly (filed the slots and provided with a longer screw), and I am using it daily.

Last year on the rehab fair I have pointed out this deficit to the Taiwanese. Yesterday I was at the Rehacare in Düsseldorf, but I didn’t see the key holder any more.

Translator BL

 

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XVII

星期二, 九月 7th, 2010

With my

“Buckled Fingers”,

I know politically correct it is of course just an impairment of motor skills of hands and fingers, it is

not possible for me any more

to start a fire with a customary

lighter or matches.

A couple of years ago this was still essential for survival.

Nowadays it is fortunately not that important any more, provided that you are in possession of a functional microwave and central heating.

I had quit smoking a couple of months before the accident so that I didn’t bother specifically about making fire in the last 2,5 years.

Rather by coincidence I noticed that these

long gas lighters

can be operated without any finger function.

Now even I can light a tea candle again.

Translator BL

 

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XV

星期二, 八月 24th, 2010

If you as quadriplegic like me or for which reason ever don’t have any power in hands and fingers, such a

turning knob on the inside of a toilet door

is getting a real challenge.
Closing the locks is “going“ rather well, but then!!!

If you are not particularly interested to meet consistently your friend from the fire brigade it is beneficial to always have a

Silicon cap

with you which you usually use to open bottles (see older blogpost).
This

excellent turning knob

I have discovered on a disabled toilet in Bregenz (Austria).

Did actually somebody put good thoughts on it, or was it all about the design?!

Translator BL

Technical Aids Tips und Tricks XII

星期一, 七月 12th, 2010

I have mentioned already several times that I am again an

active car driver.

I have already introduced the wheelchair loading system of my car, but I have completely disregarded all the special modifications inside the car.

To begin with, basically driving a car is very, very simple, if you only have obtained your wheelchair car driving licence.
(see older blogpost).

The wheelchair is placed on the side of the driver’s door of the car and one glides from the wheelchair with the help of a

foldaway slide board

across the gap called door sill to the driver’s seat. The door sills are getting wider and wider due to the side-collision protection. It facilitates the process if the driver’s door has been opened completely before.

Then as reported 2x click-clack (see older blogpost) and the wheelchair is loaded behind the driver’s seat with the wheelchair loading system!
(Well, at least roughly, if the agency for technical relief or the fire department are nearby to help.)

There are the most different

hand throttle systems,

depending on the needs of the driver. Usually the car has an automatic gearbox. A relatively common equipment is that you have a transmission mechanic near the thigh with which the foot pedals are pressed with arm and hand.
In my case it is working like this that for accelerating a perceived

door handle (hand throttle)


is pushed downwards, and for breaking the complete construction is pushed forward. This is quite fun if the “sport button” is pushed, you have 140 horsepower beneath the butt and you just have to bend your hand. This happens approximately once in 6 weeks because afterwards my butt is always hurting.

The small black switch

is pure luxury. With it you can blink, honk, activate the windscreen wipers and turn on the emergency flasher. With the second switch you can turn up the headlights. The button on the left is the fixing brake. Light and rain sensor go without saying.
For steering I am using a

steering fork,


It is comparable to a tuning fork in which I can lay my hands, and I turn the steering wheel with my arm, because I can’t grab a turning knob which is known from a tractor (see first picture above). Instead I would still be allowed to drive a tractor with hand throttle (see blogpost wheelchair driving licence).What a joke.

The modification of the hand brake


reminds a little of modern art, but works when needed. Good that my car has a “P” (parking) position.
In front of the pedals there is a removable plate mounted so that nothing happens if my body decides to kick with the legs what actually happens from time to time.

• A set of harness belts is a must due to my missing abdominal muscles.

• I have set a speed control button next to the hand throttle.

• An air condition is not bad if one can’t sweat any more.

• A remote-controlled park heating should be installed as well,
because scraping ice in the winter is quite difficult for a wheelchair driver.

In spite of these modifications any pedestrian can drive the car as well if he removes the safety plate from the pedals.

Thus the value of a boring Astra increases suddenly, and nobody notices it, if you are not “posing” with your wheelchair loading system.
A small lottery winning does not harm to help financing the car.

Translator BL

 

Wheelchair Tuning Part XI

星期三, 六月 30th, 2010

Aus gegebenen Anlaß, draußen sind es derzeit um 10:08 Uhr bereits 25,4° mal was aktuelles.

Da ich mit meinen Fingern kaum zugreifen kann, ist es mir nur möglich, meinen Rolli zu bewegen, indem ich mit den Händen gegen die Greifringe/Greifreifen der Laufräder drücke und diese dann nach vorne schiebe.
Dies ist für mich ausschließlich mit gummierten Greifreifen möglich, es sei denn man schiebt mit den Speichen, was doch etwas lästig ist und nicht “geht”, wenn man einen Eingreifschutz für die Speichen hat.
Die Greifringe gibt es schon fertig mit Gummi überzogen, oder als

„Aufgeschnittener Gartenschlauch“ (Greifringüberzug),

den man dann auf einen Standartgreifring aufzieht.

Was da besser oder schlechter ist, muss jeder selbst für sich entscheiden.
Es heißt immer die Greifringüberzüge würden im Sommer wenn es warm ist und das Gummi weich wird, immer von den Greifreifen rutschen.
Diese negative Erfahrung hatte ich auch gemacht.
Man kann da ganz einfach gegensteuern indem regelmäßig so ca. alle 2 Wochen die Greifringüberzüge innen und außen bzw. die Greifringe mit einem alkoholhaltigen Reiniger wie Fensterputzmittel, Spiritus… reinigt.
Die Teile halten dann am Greifring wieder wie festgeklebt.
Jetzt noch ein bisschen Haarspray außen auf den Geifringüberzug und der Ausfahrt zum Baggersee “steht” nichts mehr im Wege.

Ob die am Baggersee eine Hebeanlage zum Wassern haben?