Thanks to electricity, wheelchair-bound invalids can be freed of the manual exertions they have to do to move around. You now have motor-driven wheelchairs powered by electromotive force from rechargeable batteries that users can power-up from their socket walls.

Electric-powered wheelchairs are documented to have been first introduced by George Klein of Canada during World War II and is now part of the conveniences we’ve come to expect from a modern lifestyle, disabled and not.

Electric-operated or power wheelchairs, Electric wheelchairs or EPWs for short, have greatly aided the mobility of disabled non-ambulatory persons attaining a degree of convenience that is not available on manually navigating wheelchairs.

But there’s a case to make in favour of manual wheelchairs. Handicapped patents who still have excellent upper torso muscular control over their shoulders, arms and hands may be better prescribed with manually-navigated wheelchairs if only to give them the exercise on their upper limbs and chest muscles that would otherwise suffer muscular atrophy using electric powered wheelchairs or EPWs.

The Special Olympics for handicapped athletes provide an excellent example of non-ambulatory wheelchair-bound persons whose upper body strength can propel them to engage in athletic sports.

Who Should Use EPWs

Non-ambulatory persons whose upper body and limbs cannot operate a manual wheelchair are best prescribed to use any EPW can that allow them to control these. Joysticks on one of the armrests are often used to control EPWs provided the user still have enough coordinated wrist and hand control to use one.

Keypads can also be used for those who can only have coordinated control of their fingers and not their wrists. Invalids paralyzed from the neck down require special control features similar to what deceased celebrity Christopher Reeves used. Special chin controls as well as tubes close to the mouth that allow you to blow through as a form of control are used in these situations.

Cost of Using EPWs

Electric wheelchairs for sale are everywhere on the internet but they are more commonly obtained from hospital and medical equipments stores. They can range in price from a few hundreds to thousands of pounds depending on the sophistication of their controls. At the top end are those with computerized sophistication that can allow you to do computer and internet access.

Those customized for suitable control in special medical cases will cost more. At the bottom heap are your simpler EPWs that are generically built with some offering controls for lifting seat and leg heights as well as inclines. Let’s not discount used electric wheelchairs that offers the best values of all.