Wet weather can be challenging for wheelchair users. How do you stay dry and push your wheelchair at the same time? You obviously can not hold an umbrella and push a wheelchair. Attaching an umbrella to you wheelchair comes with all kinds of challenges, such as the extra weight that the mounting bracket adds to your wheelchair.
In this article you will discover many innovative solutions to cope with rainy weather in a wheelchair.
1. Hands-Free Umbrellas
A quality hands-free umbrella will allow you to push your wheelchair and at the same time protect you from the rain. For example:
The Brella Buddy Hands-Free Umbrella Holder is worn on the chest and securely holds an umbrella. It can hold any umbrella, but the Square-A-Sol umbrella is recommended because it is collapsible and has an extra-long stem which provides more headroom clearance.
Another hands-free umbrella is DrizZzleDome which is worn on the head. Not only will
DrizZzleDome protect you from rain, it will also protect you from sun because it features an internal silver reflective lining.
2. Rain Leg Covers
Consider combining Brella Buddy or DriZzleDome with Rayne Shield Leg protector which will protect your lower body (legs, waist) from the rain. By combining these two items, you will get full coverage. Rain comes with other challenges too. For example, they can make the pushrims wet, slippery and cold. What do you do about that?
Two excellent solutions for wet and slippery pushrims are:
3. Quality wheelchair gloves
RehaDesign offers a large range of leather wheelchair gloves with special grip fabric built into the palm for improved traction, year round, but particularly in wet weather. The leading mobility magazine in the USA, New Mobility Magazine reviewed a variety of wheelchair gloves and said “. My other glove options become useless when my pushrims are soaked, but the Ultra-Grrrips managed to provide me with some stopping power, even when navigating a steep downhill in a downpour. ” (https://newmobility.com/wheelchair-gloves/)
4. Quality Pushrim Covers
Pushrim Covers offer many benefits for wheelchair users. For
example, the colors can make your wheelchair look amazing. They can make an old drab
scratched up wheelchair look new again. But they also improve grip and perfomance,
particularly in the rain. And they protect the hands from repeatedly hitting the metal pushrims.
Combined with the right gloves, your pushrim covers will provide perfect control even in wet and rainy weather.
5. Wheelchair Tire Covers
The final challenge presented by wet and rainy weather is what can happen to your floors and carpets when you bring your wheelchair inside. The wet dirt and mud can make a mess of your house. What can you do about that?
There are two options:
1, You can either clean your tires everytime you come home, even though you can never get them completely clean, or:
2. Use Tire Covers to protect your floors and carpets.
RehaDesign offers 3 types of wheelchair tire covers:
- RehaDesign Wheelchair Slippers: Cover the large rear tires of manual wheelchairs
- RehaDesign Wheelchair Socks: Cover the small front caster wheels.
- RehaDesign Mud Eaters: Water-proof tire covers for very wet and muddy tires.
RehaDesign Tire Covers are better than the first option because they are machine-washable, are designed to be easily put on, and help keep your floors and carpets clean.
If you are interested in any of these products, you can learn more about them in the Shop.
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