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Due to the rather tropical outside temperatures I would like to call your attention like every year to two older blogposts!
One is about a
(click here)
and the other one about a
(click here)
Since the summer 2013 has found us as well I have the prototype of a cooling shirt, also from the company E-cooline in permanent test mode, and I am happy.
Read the comments to the blogposts, there are some tips of other readers!!!
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During my last stay in the wheelchair hotel Mar y Sol in Tenerife (see older blogposts) I wanted to do some physical training when I met the Scotswoman Mary.
On her wheelchair two aluminium tubes were fixed with hose clamps which made me a bit curious.
Even I didn’t know what to do with this construction!!!
On my enquiry it turned out that you put those sticks into the tubes with which you push the rocks at wheelchair Curling. Curling is a very common sport in Scotland. If the term Curling doesn’t mean anything to some of you, it is a sport similar to ice stock sport, but Olympic.
When she took out a black bandage glove which looked a little as if she wanted to enter the boxing ring with me for twelve rounds instead of spreading the ping-pong balls broadly in the gym she started to scare me.
With this special velcro tape glove type Hand Grip she is holding the stick at wheelchair curling with which the rock is pushed, a ping-pong or badminton racket or hockey stick tight in her hand. This is working excellently even though she is quadriplegic like me and has very limited finger functions.
You can use the glove especially well for working out with weights, or supposedly for playing with the “Wii”.
Maybe I should start with a 500 gram weight first, but I do everything for a good shot 
The glove is from the English company active hands, who are specialised in gripping aids for handicapped (as well for kids).
I have ordered such a glove in England. It was delivered within a week. The price is quite high with 65 €, but justified.
When you order the glove online beware that the check mark is set for “left glove”. But you can put the left glove on the right hand without problems
The English have always been a little “twisted”, this is probably because the genetic pool of the islanders is exhausted
Now I can finally hold a little hammer when I urgently need to consult my piggy bank.
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It doesn’t always have to be the expensive aids from the medical supply stores which make one’s life easier.
If you have finger motor functions as if you are wearing boxing gloves the little metal clip on the toast packaging becomes your object of hate.
These clips are “Newton’s” best friend.
For some time, I am only using re-usable
for plastic bags.
Simply great, these little clips.
They are available in some supermarkets or for little money at the yellow Swedes!
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Around 30 years ago I tried to learn to play guitar.
The success was so limited that I put the career aspiration to be a professional musician on hold for an indefinite period.
As mentioned already several times, my finger function is very limited since my accident so that playing the guitar was not necessarily on my priority list.
Many quadriplegics like me with our cervical spine injuries have difficulties with gripping.
Therefore it was so much surprising when Mary from Scotland (quadriplegic as well) showed me her self-constructed
When she told me that in spite of her handicap she is able again to strum around on her guitar her eyes were sparkling.
A really great idea, we need more of these.
Tips as usual to contact: rollinator@eigude.de
Click here on “Quadriplegic Tips”, to read other tips!!!
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The medically proven positive effect of hop blossom ice tea, or disdainfully just called beer, is generally known.
is extensively carried out, especially in Bavaria with state recognition.
If you are not able to remove the crown cap of the medicine bottle any more due to the paralysis of your hands, illness, stroke or too much doping, there is only one thing to help, the
Source of supply of this ingenious aid without medical device number is amongst others
I have already reported about their knife holder (see older blogpost).
Here is a link to other helpful special openers:
2. self-developed technical aid, my medicine bottle opener
Security advice: Too much doping can influence the driving characteristics of your wheelchair substantially.
Special thanks to Technical Aids Stuntman Ochim, who immediately volunteered to test the opener with video evidence.
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Uneven paths, curbs, cobble stone, sand, gravel, grass and of course snow are not really friends of a wheeler.
With a little oomph you reach an artistic score of 5.8 for your flight out of the wheelchair. This can end up annoying, see older blogpost Broken Leg.
The solution is rather simple, you “just” need a longer wheelchair. But if I had a longer wheelchair I wouldn’t get it into the wheelchair loading system of my car.
My Minitrac and handcycle are great, but I always need a volunteer to get one of it out of the cellar.
A super alternative is a single wheel in the size of half a children’s bicycle which you clamp to the front of your wheelchair, and when the front wheels are lifted it gets perfect. The wheelchair then looks a bit like a jogging stroller. There are various producers of such a system.
On the Rehacare fair in DĂĽsseldorf I have met Patrick Dougherty, the American inventor of the
I knew this attached wheel from many videos from the internet, but it is not easily available in Germany. It is so small that you can store it at the back of a rigid frame wheelchair. I take it on my knees when I descend with my platform lifter because I have a foldable wheelchair. Just input “FreeWheel” in Youtube and see for yourself what is suddenly accessible, e.g.:
I could buy a new “fair wheel” from him which was still lying in the hotel. On the last day of the fair he deposited it at the booth of Runa Reisen, a travel agency for handicapped. I know their staff very well because I always book my holidays there. They have sent the FreeWheel to my home then. Thanks again from this side.
With the FreeWheel it is even possible, ideally with additional Mountainbike tyres, to ride safely in the snow. Now the next winter can start, or maybe even a little bit of desert…
The FreeWheel is clamped tetra-easily to the footrest of a rigid-framed wheelchair. (But I have a foldable wheelchair…???)
If you ride forwards afterwards the front tyres of the wheelchair are lifted, and the fun can begin.
Because of the big tyres even “shocks” due to rough grounds are almost not noticed any more.
A rack with maximum load of 12 kg is available as well.
It has been upgraded with missing spoke reflectors incl. blinking valve caps (see picture above).
Of course Patrick wanted to know in detail how I get the FreeWheel clamped to my actually non-suitable foldable wheelchair by magic with Michael’s help.
New 2014 FreeWheel for folder-wheelchairs
For enquiries contact as usual: rollinator@eigude.de
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Since I am rolling through the world for 5 years now, I have another enemy besides disabled parking place occupiers, namely doors.
These mostly white pieces are slowly turning into a phobia.
Not so easy to pull the door shut when you are standing… eh, sitting in your own way.
Hold the handle tight, roll backwards and mind not to fall forward if possible, or to do a backflip with the wheelchair.
In hospital I already had a long ribbon with which I was always fishing for the door handles. This ribbon is still hanging on the door of my flat and is serving its purpose.
I hate my own kitchen door, it is one meter wide. I only say:
No arms, no cookies…!!!
Only the door knows why I haven’t hung such a ribbon on my beloved kitchen door during the last 4 years.
The blue-yellow nordic timber worms offer drawer handles in all designs, sizes and colours. There were no more hurdles for the
A mate has screwed such a handle on my favourite door from the inside.
Now I can eventually close the door even when I am already standing in the corridor.
Because the screws have to be very long I recommend to immediately take threaded bars (on IKEA handles mostly thread M4), and saw it off to size only at the end.
If you leave the bars a bit longer you can even mount two towel hooks at the inside on the door.
Tip, always drill the holes from outside to inside and use an air level.
Looks a bit like a towel rail, I like it. Next, the door of my flat will be refurbished.
Before spot-drilling the entrance door it can’t do any harm to integrate the landlord in selecting the handles.
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One of the biggest difficulties for us quadriplegics is opening screw caps of jars and bottles.
The variant to beat them up with a hammer or to throw the jars and bottles in the easiest way on the floor to open them is working excellently, but proved out to be inefficient in practice after a longer test phase.
I have reported already several times about special openers, (see older blogposts).
As self-confessed roamer on websites of the most different online medical supply stores I have found two new models made from silicone. The sunflower bottle opener
is working quite well, but needs getting used to. The
has convinced me completely with its splines on the in- and outside whereby it gets a good grip, and is in my opinion even a little bit better than its competitor product of the company Dycem, whose products I think are excellent.
Source of supply of both items at www.dein-sanitätshaus.de
I assume no responsibility for an aching head on the next day after an extensive test series of the openers with e.g. a bottle of vodka and a jar of figs
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There are often small things which can help to get mad a little less in spite of one’s handicap. With my buckled fingers I always have “slight” difficulties to hold a pen.
Even before my accident I already had a kind of cryptographic handwriting (dreadful scrawl), which I only could decipher myself, but now…
My “handwriting“ is quite dreadful despite occupational therapy in which I started like in first grade to draw “e” and “a”.
I always try to convince myself to see everything sportingly and stay quiet, but if it is about writing I rarely succeed.
Everybody who once had a healthy set of hands knows what I mean.
I recommend to everyone who would like to try out such a handicap to do the housekeeping for at least 1,5 hours with leather ski gloves, or just try to write an address on an envelope… with sender!
If I could really motivate somebody for this test I would appreciate to receive a test report. rollinator@eigude.de
I didn’t like pencils any more at all, these things were too smooth for me.
You might put rubber foam or rubber caps on the pencils, but it might work differently as well.
The company Staedtler is known for their writing utensils of all kind.
They are offering a
which I think is very recommendable due to its grip.
With this one you might be able to write a love letter in ski gloves.
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If you are like me not bigger than 1,38 m sitting in the wheelchair and additionally are not able to grip acceptably any more the supposed most easy things become challenges.
Before my accident I was a real friend of plastic money. Insert card, add number, and yet the bucks were gone, if you are not just standing in front of an ATM.
As wheeler you feel a little uncomfortable with the debit card when each pedestrian looks over your shoulder when you are typing the PIN on the do-it-yourself store counter.
Additionally my wallet fell down regularly.
I decided rather quickly in favour of the a bit antiquated, but in Germany still widely used cash, whereas the little hitch was that I can only grip coins very poorly with my fingers and the coins fall down to the floor often. Additionally, who likes it when the casher is digging in your wallet, or who would give to the kind filling station attendant the PIN of the debit card to settle your bill.
Every quadriplegic has his mishap with zippers when the motor function of the fingers is limited. Alternatively to the well-known key rings which are usually fixed to the zippers I as former electronic technician am largely fixated on tie wraps.
On rucksack, jacket (see older blogpost), camera bag and even on the pants,… tie wraps, tie wraps, tie wraps… Thumbs in… open close, open close…!
The idea to fix the wallet with a spiral rope on the key ring at the front bag of my cushion was obvious. A wheeler friend of mine got his wallet stolen from his rucksack on the back of his wheelchair 4 weeks ago. If someone would try this with me the person would have to bend down so low that an uppercut would be recommendable.
From the technical side I don’t have difficulties with paying any more; now only the regular refilling of the wallet at the bank has to be ensured.
Quiz question: There are two tie wraps on the wallet, a white one and a black one, which one opens the pocket with the cash??? *
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If you are like me not bigger than 1,38 m sitting in the wheelchair and additionally are not able to grip acceptably any more the supposed most easy things become challenges.
Before my accident I was a real friend of plastic money. Insert card, add number, and yet the bucks were gone, if you are not just standing in front of an ATM.
As wheeler you feel a little uncomfortable with the debit card when each pedestrian looks over your shoulder when you are typing the PIN on the do-it-yourself store counter.
Additionally my wallet fell down regularly.
I decided rather quickly in favour of the a bit antiquated, but in Germany still widely used cash, whereas the little hitch was that I can only grip coins very poorly with my fingers and the coins fall down to the floor often. Additionally, who likes it when the casher is digging in your wallet, or who would give to the kind filling station attendant the PIN of the debit card to settle your bill.
Every quadriplegic has his mishap with zippers when the motor function of the fingers is limited. Alternatively to the well-known key rings which are usually fixed to the zippers I as former electronic technician am largely fixated on tie wraps.
On rucksack, jacket (see older blogpost), camera bag and even on the pants,… tie wraps, tie wraps, tie wraps… Thumbs in… open close, open close…!
The idea to fix the wallet with a spiral rope on the key ring at the front bag of my cushion was obvious. A wheeler friend of mine got his wallet stolen from his rucksack on the back of his wheelchair 4 weeks ago. If someone would try this with me the person would have to bend down so low that an uppercut would be recommendable.
From the technical side I don’t have difficulties with paying any more; now only the regular refilling of the wallet at the bank has to be ensured.
Quiz question: There are two tie wraps on the wallet, a white one and a black one, which one opens the pocket with the cash??? *
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Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.
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I have already reported on 01.04.2010 about a
It is nothing new that a wheeler is wearing a couple of key chains every now and then.
Slowly this technique gets a little annoying and a bit out of hand…!!!
(picture is not faked!!!)
If the chains are collectively lying around, for no apparent reason a Gordian knot is formed again and again. I explain this by the momentum.
Therefore I have meanwhile established a key chain
Maybe I should sort the key chains by spectral colours.
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I have found a great technical aid to open canned staple food, with fish, instant noodles, goulash soup, wieners, Coke, Bed Rull, beer and cider.
The Canpull opener was awarded with a design prize, the unofficial Oscar for household items of all kind.
One reason more for an extensive Rollinator test as I always had ambivalent feelings towards designer parts. From experience, unfortunately modern appearance and functionality rarely fit together.
This is not the case with the
With one side
can be opened tetra easily.
A small plastic nose clicks into the ring-pull of the can so that the Canpuller doesn’t slip off when it is bent for opening. This is working without problems.
Unfortunately the Canpuller doesn’t help against the burning lips if three chilli peppers are displayed on the “devil’s goulash” can. I am currently a little handicapped.
The other side of the award winner is suitable to open beverage cans in record time.
Thus you can pass an opened can of Prosecco to your colleague even after the eight successful test series with hop blossom ice tea cans of which the content was professionally disposed into the gorge.
This can opener is a well-thought-out and functional technical aid.
Source of Supply: http://www.desicare.de
I give to the Canpuller 4,5 out of 5 possible Golden Steering Forks.
Half a steering fork had to be deducted because manual hands-on is still necessary.
Another type of can opener, (see older blogpost).
An ingenious bottle opener, (see older blogpost).
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I am currently testing a technical aid, it is a
This holder has been developed mainly for quadriplegics like me with limited or no finger function.
You notice immediately that this part has been built by insiders, it has been really well-thought on.
The knife is fixed at the hand adaption. The holder is dishwasher safe.
There is no finger function necessary to use it.
I was convinced by the knife holder already after the first test.
With the weight of your own arm only you have already a strong pressure with the knife on the evenly to be sliced test objects, in this case out of pork.
The cutting could be done without effort.
My first test was not representative yet because thanks to the cooking skills of my wife the test samples to be cut were tender pieces of pork fillet.
Now I was in a dilemma: To complete the test series I had to try to cut tough meat as well!!!
To order a steak “well done” is against my nature, I am not a Botswanian who empirically puts a steak 20 minutes on the barbecue until it is dead for the 2nd time.
I decided that it wasn’t necessary to test if it would be possible to cut a tough piece of meat with the special knife or not. I wouldn’t like to eat it then anyway.
An appointment in the test lab “Charisma” in Frankfurt was made to come to a final conclusion.
As you can see on the picture the test object in this case was a beef steak with fried onions, fried potatoes and for the better gliding of the knife, a little herb butter.
The cutting of the meat was done extraordinarily well, I didn’t expect that.
The knife is very sharp, and the knife holder convinces all along the line.
It has to be decided on an individual basis to what extent the purchase of this technical aid makes sense.
I am convinced by this technical aid.
Unfortunately it doesn’t have a medical device number, thus only suitable for self-payers, whereas the price is absolutely fair.
Have a look at the older blogpost with my self-developed electric
(Click here for blogpost with video)
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I have extensively described my enthusiasm about a cooling vest (see older blogpost).
Yesterday evening I have tested a
Actually unbelievable, but you are sitting with a black cap in the sun at 28°C in the shade with your head being cooled.
“Only” water is put on this cap, like on the vest, about 0,3 liter. The fleece on the inside of the cap absorbs the water, and the cap virtually sweats and cools.
Ingenious!!!
Unfortunately my match was cancelled, I forgot my tennis shoes.
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