Archive for 五月, 2011

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XXXVIII

星期二, 五月 31st, 2011

My friend always tells me that I have a static like

Bernd das Brot

(German kids television character, an ill-humoured bread)

Long torso, short arms and short legs.

Therefore the transfer from wheelchair to car belongs – because I can’t stand and the door sills are becoming wider and wider – into the realms of fantasy.

This gap is insurmountable for me. Many wheelers have the same challenge (I have abolished all “problems” years ago, see front page) and use a slide board, with which they glide as elegantly as possible from wheelchair to car seat. To learn this there was once a

brand new car lifted with a tower crane in the 9th floor

of a hospital in Frankfurt which is standing since then in the corridor of the occupational therapy.
The car won’t be stolen for sure!!!

Almost all car customizing companies offer a permanently mounted foldaway slide board, with which one can transfer relatively save to the driver seat.

Why one is dragged at the trouser waistband into a car at rehabilitation fairs and the International Automobile Exhibition (IAA) in Frankfurt, because these “specialist companies” don’t even have a slide board with them, is incomprehensible for me. Usually a mounted slide board should be part of the basic equipment.

Only on demand I got an offer for a foldaway slide board.

Get yourself a

permanently mounted slide board

fitted if you also have difficulties with the transfers.

You can drive with the wheelchair directly to the transfer board.

As you can see perceived 2 kg key chains are normal for me!

Translator BL

Alternative Therapy

星期一, 五月 30th, 2011

There are various therapies for muscle relaxation.

Mud packs, acupuncture, massages of all kind, stimulation current therapy, etc. etc. etc…

There is a shockingly expensive machine called Galileo which is basically just a vibrating plate on which you can regulate different frequencies.

On Saturday night we went to the group vibration therapy, similar to Galileo, to the “Festhalle” in Frankfurt (big event hall).

The English therapists are known since 1975 under the name

Iron Maiden

and achieve with their years of experience and permanent frequency changes best possible therapy successes by full body vibration.

Muscle build-up by clapping and CPAP lung exercise by singing along!

By slight shock-values generated by the stage design additionally the circulation is stimulated.
Several thousand patients were treated at the same time.

An additional positive effect is that you can still hear slightly the sound of the ocean days later which causes a holiday feeling.
Incomprehensibly the health insurance does not cover the costs of this since 36 years proven and tested alternative therapy.

Read my older blogpost Football ticket on prescription.

Translator Teo

Wheelchair Tuning Part XXIV (Competitor)

星期五, 五月 27th, 2011

Chapeau to the constructor!

12 x 2 Offroad Wheelchair, just cool this vehicle, it is currently for sale, 6,5 HP, 4 km/h, with starter cable.

Of course without inspection of the technical control association.

With this vehicle up to the next street fair… ;-)

Translator BL

Technical Aids for Quadriplegics VIII

星期二, 五月 24th, 2011

对不起,此内容只适用于EnglishDeutsch

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XXXVII

星期一, 五月 23rd, 2011

Am Samstag war ich auf “Weiterbildung” auf der Rehamesse in Karlsruhe.

Da freut es mich besonders, wenn ich Hilfsmittel auch testen kann.
Bei Prototypen macht das doppelt Spaß. Dieser

Einrad-Frontmotor Typ Slave

wird lediglich auf das Fußbrett vom Rolli gesteckt. Zuvor wird ein Stehbolzen am Fußbrett angeklemmt und los “geht’s”. (Nur für Starrahmenrollis geeignet).
Die Endgeschwindigkeit habe ich aufgrund meines Lebenserhaltungstriebes nicht erreicht. Ohne Kippschutz am Rolli, etwas tricky…
Den Namen Slave, sprich Sklave erachte ich als unpassend.

Das Teil ist sehr handlich, man kann es quasi unter den Arm nehmen und ist mit seinen ca. 9 Kilo recht leicht.

Um kurz zum Bäcker zu fahren, ohne in den E-Rolli umsteigen zu müssen, könnte das Teil durchaus nützlich sein. Wenn Ihr andere Ideen für Einsatzmöglichkeiten habt, schreibt einmal einen Kommentar.

Man sollte aber tunlichst darauf aufpassen, dass der Neffe nicht heimlich die kleine Zugmaschine mit Draht an seinen Tretroller bastelt.
Ich hätte es wahrscheinlich getan ;-)

Unbelievable…

星期三, 五月 18th, 2011

The most important safety equipment of a wheeler is his mobile phone.
You need it in the most paradox situations, maybe I will tell more about it later.

Yesterday I wanted to change my ancient mobile phone tariff and visited a store with the magenta coloured rectangles (translator’s note: German telecom), because online you can only upgrade and not downgrade your contracts.
A very kind competent service guy changed my tariff by means of a TAN code and a generated text message on my mobile phone immediately and without unnecessary sales talk.
Fascinating technology…
I interpreted the permanent clattering on the keyboard as work.
Then perceived 20 pages of paper with some standard templates were printed, filled, signed, and I was almost content.

Furthermore I wanted to terminate a partner SIM card, for which they already told me at the telephone hotline that this could only be done in writing, and I would best visit a shop.
I asked the service guy for the termination and he said that he would immediately set up a document.

The service counter was rather high for me so that I didn’t see exactly what he was writing.
Have a look yourself, you can close “digitally” the weirdest contracts with the company bling, bling, bling, bling.
SMS, WARP, GPS, UMTS… everything is possible, but for a simple termination letter the analogue pen has to come out!!!

Afterwards I was surprised that the service guy of this younger generation could actually handle such an ancient helping aid (pen).

Translator BL

The eigth Plague of Mankind

星期一, 五月 16th, 2011

Yesterday it was raining cotton wool

Translator BL

Rollator Part I

星期日, 五月 15th, 2011

As wheelchair user I have neglected the subject of rollators or walkers a little bit until now. During my journeys through the depth of the internet I have discovered some especially beautiful types:

Parlour Trolley “Push Me!”

Golf Rollator Type “Get the Ball”

Special Edition “Father’s Day”

Skate Rollator “Schuhmacher”

Special Type “Vettel 80″

My Favourite “Sankt Pauli”

Cleany 3000


The parlour trolley is for sale under a different name.

Translator BL

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XXXVI

星期二, 五月 10th, 2011

Everybody who knew me before my accident still remembers that I couldn’t sit quietly for 5 minutes. I am catching up this time now intensively.
The bad thing with a para-/quadriplegia is that often all muscles at the butt are lost.

If some day only the hip bones poke out of the bottom, the butt starts to “ouch” as if you were just driving with the car nonstop from Frankfurt to Rimini.

Cushions for wheelchairs are a science in itself. Starting with a simple piece of rubber foam for cheap 120 €, via shockingly expensive comb cushions which look like a beehive for 600 €, up to inflatable special cushions which looked upon from above remind of a box of chocolate marshmallows.

I am using a comb cushion myself which actually is rather good. I consider the price of 125 € for an adequate seat cover which in my case starts ripping at the corners after 6 months as such a cheek that I have my covers privately mended to avoid charging my health insurance with such exorbitant prices. Everything has its limit, currently my cover has leather on the corners!

As just explained there are endless types of wheelchair cushions…

Why shower commode chairs are only slightly cushioned if at all, is inexplicable for me. After long research I have found an approximately 1,5 cm thick

Gel rest for shower commode chairs

The investment of 143 € is worth each cent.
I am using it daily for meanwhile 6 months now and I am absolutely content.

This shower commode chair is a standard model: Apart from the fact that the brake springs were broken after 2 years and the rear tyres were seized up, the shower water accumulates on two slots on the front tyres. This can only be topped by the fact that water is accumulating in the inside of the frame and can’t drain off, because there is no exit for it.

They should have provided the information that the shower chair is not water resistant!

Translator BL