Powered wheelchair that tilts for indoors and garden path UK

That sounds brilliant for your trips to gardens. As you say, not for me because of the need for tilt, but I think it's good to have these recommendations on the thread so others can see them too!

Yes! I coveted that and told the OT about it. But I also noticed that his corridors are two or three times the size of mine.

The extent of the tilt I need is challenging, as most power chairs that tilt are designed to do it to reduce pressure/give a slightly different position only.

For a narrow indoor-friendly chair without major tilt, this one looks interesting:
https://www.sunrisemedical.co.uk/q300-m-mini

This one looks like it could work. There's an image of a kind of scrunched up tilt which would work fine for stopping a faint:
https://www.recare.co.uk/product/sango-slimline-sego-comfort-dietz-power-powerchair/

This image is of an Invacare TDX power chair, and is the only image I've seen that shows a close-to-horizontal tilt. If the image doesn't come through, it's in here somewhere: https://www.invacare.ie/sites/ie/fi..._docs/DSAL008451_TDX2_Ultra_Brochure 7.22.pdf

 

And this one sounds great:
https://www.wheelfreedom.com/products/quantum-edge-3-stretto-powerchair

 

I'm finding this website brilliant for giving you the information you actually want:
https://www.wheelfreedom.com/
They're in Surrey, UK.

At the end of their detailed product descriptions, there's a verdict section, where they link to other chairs that might suit aka the competition for the model you're looking at:

So valuable.

 

I got my powerchair a week ago, a Quickie Q300m Mini. It is fabulous, and it will ultimately be great for me. But right now, it’s just a very powerful PEM-inducer. I’ve practised three times for up to 20 mins each time including a rest, and that’s too much. So I have to bring that way down. And wait for the most recent hammering to ease. Even though I knew that my ability to use it would be limited, it’s still disheartening to experience it. I’m hopeful that I will find a formula for what I can do and when I can do it without leaving myself feeling so bad. It's likely to look like 2-3 times a week for 10 mins, and never two days in a row or when otherwise compromised.

It has powered tilt, recline and legrests, so I can get myself into a good faint-rescue position. Very comfortable seating – it took a lot of feedback to get to that point. I needed a special headrest because the generic one was so uncomfortable when reclined. The chair is a good bit wider than advertised. To be honest, I’m not entirely clear which requirements or choices made that happen, as we emphasised the need to keep it as narrow as possible throughout. It’s a challenge since our doorways and corridor are narrow. My husband has brought the arms in and removed an extra thing I had, so that going through a doorway is less like threading a needle with a tremor.

Something I wouldn’t have known before trying out powerchairs is that powerchairs are tricky to steer (at least at the beginning). It’s not like driving a car where going straight is pretty easy from the beginning. You’re driving using a joystick that is very trigger-happy, so it’s a very wobbly endeavour, and a crashy one. That will improve with practice at the lowest speed, but my ability to practise is very limited, so I have to just accept that it’s going to take some time. Apparently people are generally told to practise outside or in a carpark or gymnasium. I can’t do anything like that, but thankfully the hall is big enough and the chair is small enough for me to practise there. But the doorframe that I have to get through to get to the rest of the house is getting beaten up!

The other thing I didn’t quite realise before I started trying out powerchairs is that driving a powerchair means continuously pressing the joystick. There is no alternative. (Well, you can control it with your head or mouth or foot instead, but continuous activity is required for all.) And the joystick is on one side. You can have it mounted on a tray in the middle, and I tried one like that. It was good in that I could alternate using right and left arms, but my arms still got exhausted and my neck got sore quickly. And the tray is annoying. So I have the joystick mounted on my less-sore-arm side, at the end of the armrest, and it swings in from there towards my legs. I’m not sure if this is an ME issue or a my-neck issue, but given the difficulty studies have shown we have with repeated grip tests, I’m guessing at least some of it is ME.

There is a second set of controls on the back of the chair that my husband can use. We needed this so he can take over steering when I’ve reached my limits. He, too, finds the steering tricky and took a chunk out of a doorframe.

I also tried a Stretto. It was a little less expensive than the Quickie, but not much. I found the Stretto a little easier to steer than the Quickie, but it felt less sturdy when reclined (a bit like I was on a rickety fairground ride), and was a little longer. The slightly longer length was only an issue because it would have meant having a remove a very important shelf so that I can ultimately get into the one room that has a wide doorway. (I need to get much better at steering before venturing down that gauntlet of a corridor.)

When I fully reclined the Stretto to lie flat, it was tilted at an angle. So instead of being a great faint-rescue position, it was a great way to shunt the blood towards my feet.

The Quickie I got has 50something degrees of tilt. The regular Q300m Mini has just 30 degrees of tilt. They brought one of those one day and it was not good. To get into the best supine position, I first tilt it back a lot, then raise the legrests a bit more and then recline a bit. If you just recline, the backrest goes back but the armrests don't come with, so you have to kind of fold your arms on your chest to give them somewhere to be.

Hope some of this might be helpful to someone else. I will try to update in a while - hopefully I will have made some progress!

Edited to add the 2nd and 3rd last paras with more detail on reclining and tilting.

 

It sounds like you found just the right chair, @Evergreen!

You'll get better at steering, but it's always a bit awkward. Free-spinning castors have minds of their own, specially if it's one of those chairs that have four of the buggers. The amount of steering needed always depends on which way they happen to be pointing, so don't be too quick to assume it's lack of skill.

Also, steering in a house some nincompoop filled with furniture is the most difficult bit. Anybody can manoeuvre in an empty car park.

You'll pick up little adjustments such as rolling the chair forward slightly first, even when you want to go backwards, to line up the castors. Also, you'll sense the resistance in the drive that means the castors are pointed completely the wrong way (facing right-left), and you need a little wiggle to straighten them up before you start a tight manoeuvre.

Almost as soon as I got my first chair, I began steering it using the webbing between my thumb and first finger, with the force coming from the base of the thumb. I don't use the knob on top of the controller at all, I'm pushing against the base of the "stalk".

I only need to move the heel of my hand forward by a fraction to make the chair go, even at well above walking pace. When I need to reverse, I close the thumb towards the forefinger to lightly grip the stalk.

No idea how I arrived at this, but it means the steering hand is almost totally relaxed. I also relax my arm along the armrest, and because it's anchored by its own weight rather than effort, steering seems to take minimal energy. You'll find the most comfortable position for you.

Good luck, and again! Another one of us wheeled up.

 

PS: If your legs are okay to hoik the footrest upright with one heel, it's a very good way of making sharp turns through doorways easier.

It reduces the length of the chair quite significantly. You can poke the footplate back into place, again with one of your heels, as soon as you're round the corner.

It does need a leg with quad muscles that will work for a few seconds, and it's easiest when wearing shoes or slippers. But if it's possible in the first place, the effort required reduces quite a bit once you've got the knack.

 

Thank you so much for your enthusiastic and encouraging responses!

Yes, I have figured out a few of these tricks already. A quick google gave me the essential advice from powerchair users to put the joystick in the V between thumb and forefinger. I was kind of almost doing this already, but not quite. And yes, I can hook the footrest with my heel. I will need that for the sharp turn into one of my rooms - from a narrow corridor into an 86cm opening (that's the only wide one we've got, a 90cm doorway but the door itself blocks 4cm of that).

I haven't yet mastered the castor direction but I've started noticing it, so am on my way. Yep, I do have four of them because the chair is mid-wheel drive - two at the front, two at the back. The big advantage is that I can turn on the spot i.e. the turning circle is tiny.

Thankfully we haven't filled the place with furniture. So it's just the unusually narrow doorways and corridor that I'm cursing. And the laundry baskets that were inexplicably stacked in a doorway on my last practice.

 

So pleased you have a chair you are happy with @Evergreen, that gives you support in the ways you need. That is so individual. I go round Wisley which is our favourite place, and wonder how people can hold up their own arms to steer a scooter; utterly impossible for me.

We bought my chair at wheelfreedom but were able to visit as we live not too far away. I have never looked back. I can rest my arms on very comfortable armrests while I manipulate the toggle and I'm off, but I can sit upright. I find like @Kitty that toggle management takes minimal energy since my arms are so well supported by the armrest. I can turn on the spot which helps in manoeuvring.

Do you have a way to transport your chair? I find it has opened up access to all sorts of places but we do need a hoist which Mr B operates. We were lucky that it fitted into our existing car which was one expense spared, and the chair itself was very reasonably priced. Good luck with your driving practice and hope your energy increases with familiarity.

edit: I have reread your early posts and see that you will be using it at home and in the garden so transport will not be needed.

 

Thanks Binkie! Wheelfreedom sounds amazing, and your chair sounds perfect for you. Wonderful that you actually get to go places now.

Yeah transport is not really on the cards at all, because I don't have the energy/stamina to do things that require it! The wheelchair reps could not get their heads around that at all.

The one place I will go is to my parents' house when we're getting the ramp and path done. Luckily that's less than 10 minutes' walk away so we (realistically, Mr E) will be able to just drive it there. We haven't quite figured out how we'll get it in a door but once in, I'll have great fun, as they have nice wide corridors and normal width doorways.

It's disappointing not to be able to use it for medical appointments, because they're such a struggle, but we're not going to buy a van, and a wheelchair taxi would only add to the parade of hurdles that appointments entail. I have to lie down when travelling, so we'd probably end up sending the chair in a taxi and me in a car - just not worth it.

Are there other people like me who are using powerchairs just for inside the house/maybe to an accessible bit of garden?

 

I have done, yes, when I was very unwell. My GP prescribed a compact indoor chair for me.

I returned it to the NHS after a few years because I was using it less and less, and it was still in excellent condition. I thought someone else ought to have it, since by then I had two outdoor chairs and one of them is just about manageable indoors.

 

Well that's a happy story. Let's hope I follow in your wheel treads.