Wanted: wheel chair

[staylor1295]

Has anybody got a wheel chair too give away or selling cheap? my husband has recently had a back operation and he is slightly suffering when walking.

I can pick up. please PM me if you have such a thing.

 

cheers in advance

[medusa]

Although it may seem like a sensible thing to do, please consult the hospital before making the decision to use a wheelchair.

 

If your husband has had surgery then he will need to be seen by a physiotherapist in order to regain as much function as possible. I would imagine that the physios will have an opinion as to whether your husband should be using a wheelchair or whether he should be keeping his back moving by walking himself.

 

When my arm was first paralysed I wanted to put it in a sling because that would keep it out of the way when I was doing things, but the physios made a very good case for not strapping it up. If you stop using something as a routine then within a week the muscles start weakening and this affects all of the small muscles that are responsible for fine control even more than the larger muscle groups. It can take months of hard work to get these muscles working properly again, so if you can stop them from weakening in the first place then it's best to do it if you can.

 

With backs in particular, research has shown that incapacitating the muscles by not moving around can make it easier to cause further injuries in future, so the physios are likely to urge your husband not to use a wheelchair unless it's really essential, to get his back moving and the muscles stretching and powering like they should.

Edited March 5, 2009 by medusa