​4 Advantages Of Manual Wheelchairs Over Electric Wheelchairs

When most people think of electric wheelchairs, they tend to think of them as “better.” After all, wheelchairs have been around in some form or another for hundreds of years, so the electric ones of today must be an improvement, right?

While we love electric wheelchairs and carry quite a few of them, there’s no doubt that the manual wheelchairs still have quite a few advantages that power wheelchairs can’t beat. Let’s take a look at why you might want to have a lightweight wheelchair around even if you own a motorized wheelchair.

You Don’t Have To Charge Manual Wheelchairs

Motorized wheelchairs have to be plugged in so that that battery can recharge. If you forget to plug it in the night before, you might only get halfway to your destination before you hear that sickening whine of the battery giving out.

Manual wheelchairs, on the other hand, can always be used because they have no battery. That’s what makes them a great backup should you find yourself with a dead battery. And if you do...

Others Can Push

Let’s say you get halfway across a public park and your battery gives out on your power wheelchair. Even if you have someone along with you, it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to push you and your wheelchair around. Many power wheelchair don’t even have handles on the back anymore, meaning that there’s no good way for someone to grab on and push. Not only that, but power wheelchairs are considerably heavier than manual wheelchairs, thanks in part to the weight of the battery. If there’s any incline whatsoever, even an able-bodied companion can have trouble pushing you back to the car.

With a manual wheelchair, you can get yourself around with your own arm power. And if your arms give out halfway across the park, it’s easy for someone to casually take over and move you around.

Drop Them Into A Car

Like we said, motorized wheelchairs are heavy. Not only that, but they’re also oversized and heavy. That’s great for stability, but it makes them very difficult to take across town. Power wheelchairs often require something the size of a van to accommodate their size, and many are so heavy that you actually need a wheelchair ramp or wheelchair lift.

How about a manual wheelchair? Most able-bodied people can easily fold it up and drop it in the trunk of your typical passenger vehicle, even if it’s a compact car.

They Cause Less Damage

It doesn’t matter whether you have a lightweight wheelchair or an electric wheelchair, because they’ll both get away from you at one time or another. Maybe you bump into someone in a narrow department store aisle, or you get moving a bit too fast on a downslope. When that happens, the force behind a heavy electric is going to be much more than that behind a manual chair. Trust us, people would rather have their feet run over by a manual wheelchair than one packing a heavy battery!

Electric wheelchair have their place, but everyone should have a manual backup when certain needs arise. Check out our great selection right here!