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Posts Tagged ‘Tips and Tricks’
Technical Aids Tips and Tricks LIV Rehacare 2014
Wednesday, October 1st, 2014Technical Aids Tips and Tricks LIII
Thursday, July 24th, 2014Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.
Wheelchair Tuning Part IXXXX
Thursday, April 10th, 2014Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.
Technical Aids Tips and Tricks LI
Wednesday, April 9th, 2014Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.
Quadriplegic Workshop IV
Thursday, March 6th, 2014Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.
Technical Aids Tips and Tricks L
Tuesday, January 21st, 2014
Frontpage
I like my smartphone…!!!
With my old mobile phone I didn’t write as much as 5 text messages within 5 years since my accident because I couldn’t push the small buttons with my buckled thumb.
When I tried to hit the keys with my index finger it looked a bit like our fellow citizens who were born before 1965 
I would like to point out here that you can not learn to be patient!!!
You might be able to say: You can learn to endure patience, but nothing more.
For someone like me with my tired fingers a smartphone is really brilliant. A little sweep over it, and the text message is almost done.
The search for my first smartphone was a little difficult.
Many things which I buy I pick because of handling and key chain suitability so that they don’t fall down immediately.
I am “Lord of the key chains”, see older blogpost.
(Picture is not faked!!!)
Newton, you know who I mean, the guy with the apple, has fallen in disgrace already for years.
When I searched for a “Rollinator-Tetra-suitable Smartphone” I noticed that these phones compared to a regular cell phone don’t have a loop any more to hang them on one of my beloved key chains.
The sales clerk suggested fastening a key chain to the slots of the speaker on the cover…
This won’t last for 2 minutes with me!!!
The chance of survival for a smartphone without Rollinator-fall protection is highly estimated below 5 days.
Before I had a Samsung offroad cellphone, with a giant loop and extremely robust, but with no special functionalities.
Thus I bought the Samsung S3 offroad smartphone, but brought it back after a weekend of installation work because it constantly crashed…!!! For once, I don’t mean the device, but the software. Additionally the internal memory of 100 MB was just enough for 25 apps, ridiculous…
So better the regular S3 (by now I knew the handling), but with a solid leather or silicone cover and key chain. There should be some suitable accessories available for me..
Even after days of extensive search in stores and internet I couldn’t find a cover on which I could hang a key chain!!!
Would the producers want the phones to regularly fall down???
So I had to help myself…!!!
The solution was so simple… I bought a standard leather cover and punched my key chain hole into it myself with my office hole puncher.
Smartphone with self-made fall protection
Please note the display: Model 386 SX 12MHz
There is actually a smartphone cover with key chain loop available, see below…!!!
There is actually a smartphone cover from Samsung available, thanks to Mark for the tipp:
The cover is an original Samsung accessory, the loop is quite good, and because of the rubber cover it doesn’t slip away easily…
Without cover it was regularly lying on the floor, and I thought it was a pity that the loop for the key chain was missing… I bought it here:
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0083TWHFG/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It is available in different colours… Important it is original Samsung… The “no names” don’t really fit tight to the phone.
Translator BL
Wheelchair Tuning Part XXXII
Thursday, November 28th, 2013Frontpage
For me a dirty and squeaking wheelchair is an absolute NOGO…ehhh… NODRIVE…!!!
Even shoes are every now and then cleaned and injected with impregnation.
A wheelchair may also look nicely (see older blogpost).
Quite often the small plastic parts on the frame e.g. on the joint of a foldable wheelchair are the squeaking originators which are stressing my nerves a little.
Inject all moving parts with silicone spray*…!!!
Attention: If possible use silicone spray only outside, because if the silicone film gets on e.g. laminate this becomes so smooth that the next pedestrian can fall badly. Also use a mask over mouth and nose!!!! (see additional security advice below)
For wheelchair maintenance I recommend to clean the wheelchair beforehand with common cleaning agents. This may also happen more often than only before Christmas and Easter. At the same time you should also put oil or grease on the axes (see older blogpost).
Stainless steel cleanser is due to its lubricants not recommendable for footrest and hand rims, unless you would like to go downhill without braking the wheelchair.
Tips for hand rim covers click here
If the wheelchair is a bit more dirty only the car wash will help…
It is not my wheelchair which you can see on the picture above, but its brother, last shower about 2 years ago. If you have a closer look, the wheelchair is not dirty, but has a protective coat
I got stuck in the mud once in Austria with my wheelchair… to see the blogpost click here
But seriously, the guys from the car wash almost all have a steam blaster!!!
Security advice*:
Allegedly silicone vapours can accumulate in the lung. As a precaution you should use a mask or at least put a tissue on mouth and nose.
With a clean and de-squeaked wheelchair you can even go again to the opera 
Translator BL
Technical Aids Tips and Tricks II (Blogpost 2009)
Friday, October 25th, 2013Frontpage
The transport of items of all kind is horror for us wheelers, especially if they are round!
Thighs are completely unsuitable for carrying pomaceous fruit.
The high art of German engineering has brought it to light after years of research:
the plum transport box for wheelers
The resemblance with an egg carton is misleading!
Translator BL
Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XXXI
Friday, October 11th, 2013Frontpage
It doesn’t always have to be the large items such as a wheelchair, wheeled walker, or a leg trainer that should be told about.
Often it’s the simple things that take care of business!
Like when your roommate or you yourself snores, that can quickly lead to disputes.
Apparently I have a nighttime job as a lumberjack, so I even went to sleep laboratory, where they prescribed me a CPAP-device + nasal pillow.
With that mask, I don’t mean the standard sleeping mask type : “I AM YOUR FATHER “, (see older blogpost).
Now my roommates are happy campers, as long as I behave and wear my mask.
During impatient care in more-people bedrooms I’ve heard of piss-bottles flying through the room if the noise-level was elevated after 10 P.M.
Past spring I had an almost 94-year old :Geriatrix (the real old guy from the Asterix comics) laying next to me. His breathing activities sounded like an engine start of a a Ju 52/3*.
Someone gave me a hint about some
earplugs by the brand named Alpine, called ” SleepSoft”
http://www.alpinehearingprotection.com/
So far I have only heard of Alpine as a high quality brand of car stereos with lots of base. They used to be so popular under thieves, that they professionally extracted it after 6 weeks out of my VW… dammit!!!
The special thing about these earplugs is, that they have a tube in the center of them, so you don’t hear the snoring of your neighbour anymore, but you are still able to talk about quantum physics with the night nurse.
So they are eliminating the snoring frequencies, but too bad that you can still hear the alarm clock and there is no chance against the nurses wake-up call anyways.
They have several different types of earplugs, for whatever fits your needs.
For sleeping, swimming, music or hunting, all available.
I even tried them out in a suicide attempt during a concert. Pre-band:
ANTHRAX,
one of the most silent Metal bands out there…if you want to believe me…
and then…
Motörhead
These earplugs definitely passed the hardcore-metal concert test and the four week old fart snoring action with decoration.
What an awesome concert; for that I even used a GPS and drove to the Offenbach ** town hall without applying for a Visa first.
Lemmy definitely doesn’t count to the mellow music category.
* 3-engine propeller plane from 1932
** People from Frankfurt and Offenbach don’t like each other (similar to Greenbay Packers and New England Patriot fans)
Translator Chris
Ingenious: A cooling vest and Cap which only needs water!
Saturday, July 27th, 2013Frontpage
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
Cooling Vest
(click here)
and the other one about a
Cooling Cap
(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!!!
Translator BL
Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XXX
Saturday, March 16th, 2013Frontpage
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.
Translator BL
Technical Aids for Quadriplegics Part XII
Tuesday, March 12th, 2013Frontpage
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
plastic fasteners
for plastic bags.
Simply great, these little clips.
They are available in some supermarkets or for little money at the yellow Swedes!
Translator BL
Wheelchair Tuning Part XXXIII
Saturday, March 9th, 2013Frontpage
Strictly speaking, a wheelchair is nothing else than a shoe!!!
It is not owned by yourself, but by your medical supply store.
Refurbishment and reconstruction are only allowed to be done by the medical supply store for insurance reasons
Except for cleaning you are not allowed to do anything officially…!!!
However I also recommend regular greasing and oiling (see older blogpost).
With a newly prescribed wheelchair you are usually allowed to select the colour, but this is the utmost individuality you can get.
Of course a wheelchair has to fit primarily from a medical point of view, but where is it written that it should not look stylish as well.
The look of the wheelchair reflects the soul of its owner… ommm…
I really have to work on my meditation… eh, medication, well, this is a little bit right however…!!!
The easiest way to change the appearance of your wheelchair is to fix spoke protector discs with motif on the running wheels.
The original reason for spoke protector discs is that such a “buckled finger” like me doesn’t clamp his fingers in the spokes.
Children get these quite expensive discs with logos from football clubs or motifs from Princess Lilifee and other kids characters paid by the health insurance, and the kids are very proud how great their wheelchair is looking.
As old guy you have to pay the discs yourself or drive around with the original health insurance shopper look.
Depending on the company, you have a choice of dozens of motifs “ready-made”, but you can get almost every picture printed on the discs as well.
Believe me, I have seen quite weird things.
You can let your creativity “run wild“.
I have now got my own discs produced, in fact according to my own design with personal reference:
With such an eye-catcher the wheelchair is not so much seen as medical device anymore and can even ease some situations. Especially kids react unbiased to the motif and don’t have any fear of contact.
I have got the discs produced at an innovative family company (contact on request at rollinator@eigude.de).
If you are on 25.-27. April 2013 visiting the REHAB in Karlsruhe, keep the eyes open if you discover my motif at one of the booths
A physiotherapist noticed once with expert’s eye that the lion is an above-knee amputee…
I was just in this moment in the swimming pool, forgot to move the arms and was almost drowning.
Translator BL
Back from Wheelchairgolf trial lesson from Tenerife!
Monday, February 25th, 2013Frontpage
Next Blogpost on 01.03.
